


Zero Escape: Anime Edition - Part I

by Crazy_Pairing_Person



Series: Zero Escape: Anime Edition [1]
Category: Ouran High School Host Club - All Media Types, 斉木楠雄のΨ難 | Saiki Kusuo no Sai-nan | The Disastrous Life of Saiki K., 涼宮ハルヒ | Suzumiya Haruhi - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Anyway on to our regular tags, Blood and Gore, Character Death, Drama, Gen, Genderfluid Character, Genderfluid Saiki, Heavy Angst, If you've played Zero Escape you'll understand, Kaido a lil bit too, M/M, OOC characters, Saiki and Kyoya specifically are OOC, Zero Escape AU, for good reason
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-06-20 12:38:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 25
Words: 37,019
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15534426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crazy_Pairing_Person/pseuds/Crazy_Pairing_Person
Summary: A boat. A game. Nine hours. And the looming threat of death.This is the Nonary Game.-In other words, I'm rewriting Zero Escape and putting various anime characters into the original characters' places. If you like Zero Escape, read this. If you don't like Zero Escape but like angst and drama and death, read this and also play Zero Escape because that game is MADE of angst and drama and death.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you unaware of my obsession with Zero Escape, I apologize. It changed my view on timelines from the moment I played VLR. (Yeah, I fucked up and played VLR before 999...) I will always love it. I'll always make AUs based on it.
> 
> I let my mom pick 7 of the characters for the entire Zero Escape series, which is why there's that single Haruhi Suzumiya character in with Ouran and Saiki characters.

_BOOM!_

A loud noise made Shun's eyes snap open. "What the hell was that?!"

His eyes slowly adjusted to the light, slowly, and when he finally could see, he realized that this was most definitely  _not_ his bedroom. He moved to sit up, but-

" _Ow!_ "

A resounding crack echoed into the room as Shun's head connected with something metal. He started to move, grabbing blindly out in an attempt to steady himself, but his hand met empty air. And with that, he fell to the ground, feeling the air get knocked out of his lungs.

"...That hurt..."

His mind was still fuzzy with the remnants of sleep as he slowly started to stand. He looked around, rubbing his sore back tiredly. "Wh... Where the hell am I...?" He looked up at the place he'd fallen from - a 3-level metal bunk bed whose top bunk was far too close to the ceiling. With a wince, Shun reached up to touch at the bump on his forehead.

He looked around at the rest of the room, trying to forget his injuries. "Why is everything so... Blurry?" he mumbled. "Wait, wait... That's not it..."

Indeed, the whole room appeared to be shaking. "Is this an earthquake?" he mumbled, eyebrows drawing together and lips pulling into a frown. However, he shook his head after a moment, mentally deducing that the movements of the room were too fast to be caused by an earthquake. But then... What  _was_ causing the shaking?

He sighed, and took another look around the room. And he wondered again, "Where am I?"

He stood there for a few minutes in silence, trying to recall where he was, or at least how he'd ended up there.

And then, as suddenly as the tremors had begun, they ceased. Shun stumbled a little. "What the hell...?" The low rumble of the 'earthquake' was now gone, replaced by an eerie silence.

After a moment, Shun realized that there was the faint, distant sound of metal groaning. "What's that?" He shuddered - it was kind of creepy.

In an attempt to distract himself from the sudden fear he felt, he took another look around the room.

There was an old, antique stove that probably didn't work. It was likely more for decoration than function.

There were two bunk beds - the one Shun had fallen from was on the right if you were just coming into the room. The mattresses were extremely thin - so thin, in fact, that Shun was surprised he'd been so soundly asleep on one.

Set right in the center of the wall that both beds were resting against, was a rusty iron door painted with a red 5. Shun looked at the paint, and shuddered again. It looked far too similar to blood for his comfort...

Blood or paint, he grabbed the handle of the door, even as fright made his heart pound and pound. He tried to open the door...

Locked. Damn.

His eyes were drawn, after a moment, to an old, rusty card-reader next to the door. At least, that was what it appeared to be. There was an odd handle on the side of it, and a bright red light in the upper corner of the device.

Seeing as he had no knowledge of how to work said device, he turned towards the door, and pounded on it. "Hey!" he shouted. "Anyone there?! Hello?!"

Silence. Shun glared at the door, as if it was its fault that he was in an unknown place. He moved to punch-

And his fist stopped just short of the door. "What the hell?"

He brought his fist close to his chest, staring down at the... Bracelet? Watch? Watch-bracelet?

It was tight on his left wrist, and in the center, staring up at him, was a large LCD display with just a big 5. He pressed each one of the many buttons on the sides of the display, but nothing happened.

Of course, it didn't escape him that the number on the door and the number on his watch were the same. He just... Didn't know what it  _meant_.

But he did know that it was creepy, and he wanted it off.

He tried to tug and yank, but it was like it somehow  _locked_ onto his wrist. It wouldn't budge! He turned it over, then, and saw that there wasn't even a clasp or buckle that he could undo. "...How the fuck am I supposed to take this damn thing off?!" he shouted.

He couldn't.

So, let's recap, here - Shun was in an unfamiliar place. He was locked in. And he was wearing some weird bracelet that wouldn't come off.

And he was scared  _shitless._

Too much had happened in the time between him waking up and now. Tremors came, but not shaking the room - these tremors only shook Shun himself as fear overtook him.

Suddenly, in his mind's eye, he saw an image of... A gas mask?

However, the image left as soon as it had come, and all he had was a headache. He pressed a palm to his forehead, and turned around, intending to lay down on one of the beds-

And then he finally took notice of the window.

He approached cautiously, and stood up on the tips of his toes, trying to peer out. However, all he saw was darkness. But the shape of the window was unmistakable - he was on a ship. Likely an old one, from around the twentieth century.

And then, before Shun could pull his face away from the glass... It began to crack.

Shun felt a sense of doom seeping into his bones as he stumbled back, watching the glass crack and crack - and then it burst, shooting water into the room. He shrieked, jumping backwards as water pooled at his feet at an alarming rate.

Slipping on the water, Shun spun around and ran back to the door, pulling and pushing at the door in a futile attempt to  _escape!_ And when that failed, he started banging on the door again, desperate for someone - anyone - to hear.

No one came, though, and he knew that his escape was up to him and him alone. The water wasn't going to stop any time soon, so he looked around, searching for a way out.

His eyes fell on two briefcases - one a bright blue, and the other a dark red. Each one sat on opposite bunk beds, each one on the bottom bunk. Something told him they were going to be useful. He approached the blue one, but found it to be locked. The same for the red one.

Well, now he had an idea of what to look for - keys for the briefcases. He nodded shakily to himself, and scanned the room for a hiding place.

He spotted some sort of cover, and walked over. He moved it to reveal a mirror underneath - and it had a red key taped to it. He grabbed it, grinning to himself, and then paused, looking at himself in the mirror.

"Damn... I look like a zombie," he mumbled to himself. "What happened...?"

After a moment, it came rushing back to him.

* * *

_It was around one am when Shun finally made his way home. He trudged his way up the stairs and used his key to open the door._

_"I'm home," he called out, then scoffed to himself. No one was home to hear him say that._

_The apartment was tiny, and ran him about four hundred dollars a month in rent, plus another hundred-thirty in electricity, and then another hundred in water. He'd lived there since he started college three years ago..._

_He felt a breeze, and his eyes were drawn to an open window. Huh... Must have left it open._

_After turning on a light, he approached the window, and pulled it shut._

_In the reflection of the glass, he saw someone behind him._

_Body tensing in fear, he spun around with a surprised yelp. He came face-to-face with some someone wearing a gasmask and a dark hoodie. "Who are-"_

_His voice was suddenly cut off, as he could only manage a strangled, choked noise. His head suddenly felt fuzzy, and his vision blurred. He swayed, and fell to the ground. As he fell on his side, he saw why he was so disoriented - a small grenade-like device was emitting a strange, white gas into the room._

_Just before falling entirely unconscious, the person spoke in a distorted, robot-like voice. "You have been chosen to play the Nonary Game. Consider it a privilege."_

* * *

Shun stared at the mirror for a moment more, and then sighed. He had to get back to escaping. The water was still rushing into the room - it was up to his knees, now.

He put the cover back in its place, and moved to the red suitcase. He stuck the key in, and turned...

_Click._

"Yes!"

He opened the case, and inside he found some... Red cards? With little numbers on them... He rushed to the card reader as fast as he could, realizing that one of these must open the door!

However, nothing happened when he swiped each one. Dejectedly, he sloshed over to the antique stove. He lifted the lid off of the tea kettle that sat on top, and found a blue key.

Like with the red case, when he unlocked the blue one, there were some cards inside - though these were blue. There were also some instructions for finding the digital root of a number, a pen, some blank paper, and a calculator.

He glanced at the door, then down at the keycards he held... 5, huh?

Approaching the keycard reader, he was already selecting the cards he'd need, doing the math in his head and leaving the calculator where it sat. He swiped the blue seven and blue six, and the red one, in the reader, and then pulled the handle...

There was a beep, and the red light turned blue. "Did... Did it work?" he whispered. He reached for the door handle, and turned...

It gave way easily, and Shun rushed out of the room.

With the water following, of course.


	2. Chapter 2

As soon as Shun got out of the room, he noticed that he was in a hallway. And the water was still flowing behind him, so he scanned the area - quickly spotting a door at the end of the hallway. As fast as he could while the water was still coming, Shun made his way to the door, and opened it.

He was stunned by what he saw.

He was met by the sight of a grandiose staircase that looked like it belonged in the foyer of a mansion, not on a boat. Curiously, he turned, as if to make sure that there was, indeed, water behind him.

"This is some fancy-ass ship," he mumbled.

The water was still coming, and a wave was forming, so Shun ran, going up the fancy stairs in front of him. As he moved, he spotted plaques.

_C Deck._

He continued running, taking more and more stairs to get away from the water.

_B Deck._

A Deck, he thought reasonably, must have been next - though he had no real way of knowing for sure.

However, he was barely even onto B Deck before he spotted movement from the corner of his eye. He spun, and saw seven people to his right, coming down a similar set of stairs.

Apparently, they noticed him, too, because they froze just as he did.

After a while of silence, the one and only woman - a beautiful one with long blue hair - moved. "Another one," she noted dully, brushing shoulders with him as they walked past.

"Uh..."

Before Shun could gather his wits from being so close to such a gorgeous woman, a large man that was at least three times his size came lumbering over. "Don't bother," he grunted, "the doors on A Deck are all locked." And with that, he followed after the blue-haired woman.

Behind the giant man came a somewhat older man with glasses and black hair - with what appeared to be streaks of grey in it. "Nine people, then," he muttered to himself, a calculating look in his eye.

After him, came a set of twins - appearing to be in their late teens. One was dragging the other. "Come on, come on!" he said to his twin. He paused and looked at Shun. "Didn't you hear him? The doors on A Deck are locked. Why are you just standing there?"

Before Shun could reply, the twins moved on, with the twin who was being dragged along not even acknowledging Shun in the slightest.

Then there was a man a little older than Shun with hair that was an odd greenish-blond color. He walked down, and gave Shun a mere cursory glance. "If you think standing there staring will actually help anything, by all means, continue to do so." And then he moved on.

And he was followed by a guy with brown hair, also with some grey streaks. He looked tired, as if he hadn't slept in a long time. He also appeared... Nervous, in some way.

Then again, Shun was pretty nervous about all this himself, so he had no room to judge.

After feeling sure that he'd seen everyone on the staircase, Shun finally turned and followed everyone else.

They were going towards two large, metal doors. Each one had a number on it. The one on the left, a 5. The one on the right, a 4.

"They're the same," said the man with green-blond hair. "I woke up in a room with a door just like this one..."

It was like the guy said a magic incantation or something. Suddenly, everyone was talking over each other, but the summary of what they all said was that they had all experienced the same thing.

"Let's just see if we can open these," said the woman with blue hair.

"Easy!" the giant man said. "Step aside!"

At that, everyone got out of the way, and the giant man all but ran into the door with the 5 on it. A loud bang was heard, but the door didn't move. Still, the man was undeterred, and he stepped back, and rammed into it again. Still no result.

Shun, out of nothing more than desperation, went to attempt to open the door with the 4 on it. However, no matter how he pulled on the handle, it wouldn't budge.

"Damn it!" screamed one of the twins - still with a vice-like grip on his sibling. "What are we going to do?!"

Shun opened his mouth, ready to suggest they try C Deck, but movement caught his eye yet again. He turned towards the staircase from before, and saw one more person descending the stairs.

Entranced, he moved towards the person, hardly believing what he was seeing.

The feminine clothes on the masculine frame didn't bother him. Nor was he fascinated by the beauty of this person or something equally ridiculous.

No... He  _knew_ this person.

And as magenta eyes, hidden behind wire-framed glasses, met his own, he could tell that the person knew him too.

Silence descended upon the pair. Even the rushing water in the lower decks faded as Shun tried,  _tried_ , to recall this person's name.

Suddenly, the silence was broken as the ship jolted. The person let out a yelp, and he was flung forward. Shun moved, rushing to try and catch him, but-

He only ended up on the ground, staring up at a face that was as shocked as his own.

After a moment, the other person finally spoke.

"Is that you, Shine?"

 _Shine_.

That old childhood nickname finally triggered the memory of who this person was.

"Kusuo..."


	3. Chapter 3

Kusuo stood up, and held out a hand for Shun to take. Shun accepted the help, and was hauled to his feet. Then he led Kusuo to the others.

Just as he did, there was the sound of a crackle, like an old speaker, and a familiar, distorted voice echoed in the room.

"Welcome aboard, my dear passengers."

Immediately, everyone started looking around, searching for the source of the voice.

"Up there!" cried the guy with green-blond hair. He was frantically pointing up at an old speaker, shaped kind of like a funnel, on a wall, just above a large clock.

"I am Zero... And I am the captain of this ship. I am the person who invited you here."

The speaker was so old, and the voice so distorted, that Shun had to strain to really understand what was being said - but he understood it, nonetheless. And he could tell that everyone else understood, too.

"What exactly is going on here?! Who hides behind a speaker?" the green-blond hair guy taunted. "Are you just scared we'll all gang up on you?"

"What do you want from us?" the older man with glasses asked - calmer than he had any real right to be in this situation.

"What I want," Zero immediately replied, as if they heard, "is for all of you to play a game. It is called the Nonary Game."

"You know, when I wanna play a game, I don't normally kidnap people," one of the twins said dryly. This was the one who was being clung to, though, not the one doing the clinging.

"The rules of the Nonary Game can be found on each of your persons," Zero continued.

At that, Shun and the others immediately began searching their pockets. Shun was the first to pull out a folded piece of paper - albeit a slightly wet one, given his earlier 'adventure'. The others soon found their own - though they looked to Shun to read his out loud. He looked down, and read in a shaky voice,

"On this ship, you will find several doors that have been labelled with numbers. We will call them Numbered Doors. The keys to opening these doors are the Numbered Bracelets that each of you players possess. Should you total the numbers on your bracelets, and find that the digital root of that number is equal to the number on the door, the door will open. Only those who have opened the door will be allowed to pass... However, there are limits. A minimum of three, and a maximum of five, people, may go into one numbered door. All who enter must both contribute and leave."

Everyone paused, glancing down at the 'bracelets' they were wearing. Then, Shun continued to read, "The object of the game is a simple one. Leave this ship alive. Though hidden, an exit exists and can be found. Seek a way out. Seek a door that carries a 9."

As if on cue, the moment Shun finished speaking, Zero spoke again. "There is one last thing I must tell you... As you have no doubt surmised, this ship that you are on has begun to sink."

"No shit," the twin  _doing_ the clinging mumbled.

"On April 12th, 1914," Zero continued, "the famous ship, Titanic, crashed into an iceberg. And after remaining afloat for 2 hours and 40 minutes, it sank to the bottom of the ocean. I will, however, give you more time. You have 9 hours to escape."

_Gong. Gong. Gong._

A loud bell echoed throughout the room. Everyone's eyes were drawn to the clock under the speaker. They counted out the gongs, and it ended at 9.

"It must be 9 PM," Shun noted. "I looked out a window in my room and it was completely dark outside."

"That would mean that we have until 6 AM to escape," the older man with glasses said.

"It is time. Let the games begin."

After that last comment, the speaker stopped crackling, and all was silent.

"Oh, please!" shouted the green-blond hair guy. "You think you're scaring us?! Are you having fun, right now, watching a bunch of people you kidnapped run around for their lives?! Huh?!"

He wouldn't stop screaming, whereas everyone else was eerily silent.

After a while, Shun's eyes were drawn to Kusuo.

It was too much of a coincidence for him to be here with Shun. They hadn't seen each other in  _years_ , and now, for some reason, they get kidnapped together? Something was definitely up. Zero chose them both specifically... Which meant that everyone else here had been chosen specifically, too.

"I think," he said, after green-blond hair guy finally shut up, "that we should exchange information."

"Information?" the blue-haired woman said incredulously.

"Yeah, like, oh, I don't know, who the hell are all of you?" Shun replied. "If I'm getting stuck with someone in a life-or-death situation, I think I wanna know who it's with!"

"I'm with Shine," Kusuo said, nodding firmly in agreement.

"Shine?" everyone immediately repeated. Shun's cheeks flamed a bright red.

"Him," Kusuo said, pointing at Shun. "Well, I call him that. His name is Shun. We went to elementary school together."

"Exactly," Shun said. "Think about it. If he and I know each other, who's to say the rest of you don't know each other?" If we're getting out of this alive, we need to trust each other."

Everyone looked at each other, careful and slow.

"...Apologies, but I'll not be telling my real name," the older man with glasses said. "I fear the risk of Zero finding my family through such a thing is too great. You can't think that's not possible, can you?"

"That's not fair!" Kusuo snapped. "Shine's already told his name!"

"No, you told his name," the man replied evenly. Kusuo jolted, eyes going wide. "Though, you are right about one thing - we do need names. It's going to be hard to communicate otherwise."

"Then give us yours," Kusuo said pleadingly.

The man looked around with a calculating gaze. He sighed, and nodded. "Very well. My given name is Kyoya. And since it appears that it will be relevant to the game, the number on my bracelet is one."

Kusuo sighed in relief. One by one, everyone else gave their given names  and numbers as well.

The shouting, green-blond hair guy was Kusuke, and he was three. The beautiful woman with blue hair was Kokomi - she was eight. The scary-looking, giant man was Riki, who was seven. The twin clinging to his brother was Kaoru, who was four, and the other twin was Hikaru, who was two.

That just left the nervous-looking man with brown hair. He hadn't said a damn  _word_ since Shun had first seen him.

"Hey, you," Kaoru said, releasing Hikaru's wrist to cross his arms. "What's your name?"

"...My name?" the man croaked out.

"Yeah. Your name," Kaoru repeated.

The man was silent for a moment, then he motioned for Kaoru to come closer. With a look of confusion, he did.

In a sudden flash of movement, the man grabbed Kaoru, spinning him around and holding a knife to his throat. Kaoru immediately let out a yelp - and Hikaru seemed to come to life at the sound.

"Kaoru, are you okay?!"

Kaoru whimpered softly. "I-I'm okay..."

"Just listen to what I tell you," the man said, speaking to everyone in the room. "You all just do what I say, okay? And nobody gets hurt!"

Slowly, the man moved backwards, backing up towards a panel next to the door with the 5 on it. "Put your hand there," he demanded of Kaoru. "On the circle!"

Shaking, Kaoru lifted his left hand, placing it on the panel. A beep was heard, and an asterisk appeared on the LCD monitor just above the panel.

 _So that's how it works... But how did he know that?_ Shun thought to himself.

"N-now you!" the man said, glaring over at Kyoya. "Come put your hand on the panel!"

With eyes wide with shock, Kyoya slowly complied, walking over and placing his hand on the panel where Kaoru's had been. Another beep, another asterisk.

The man cackled, and released Kaoru. He shoved him towards Hikaru, who barely caught him in his arms. Then the man put his own left hand on the panel, and then he pulled the lever on the right side.

The door with the 5 on it opened.

Almost too late, Shun realized what had just happened.

1 plus 4 is 5, but there was one more number needed for the door to open... So the man must have been 9.

The man leapt through the open door. "See you guys later!" he sneered, smirking evilly at everyone else, just before the door slammed shut behind him.

All at once, everyone scrambled to try and open the door again, pulling and tugging on the handles, but just like earlier, it wouldn't budge. Shun cursed loudly and kicked at the door.

After a few seconds of sitting there in tense silence, Kokomi spoke. "Do you guys... Hear that?"

"The... Beeping?" Hikaru asked, lips drawn into a frown.

Shun, and everyone else, pressed their ears to the door.


	4. Chapter 4

"W-why isn't it stopping?! What's going on?!" they could hear the man cry out on the other side of the door. "Y-you... You  _lied!_ "

Wha... Lied?

"What's going on with him?" Kusuo asked, shifting closer to Shun. "Is he okay?"

Shun bit his lip, placing a hand around Kusuo's waist. "I... I don't know..."

"Listen!" the nameless guy screamed from beyond the closed door, "He lied! He put me in here! He killed me! He lied to me!" And with that ambiguous statement, they could hear him breaking off into sobs...

And then, there was a loud boom. And with that, no more sobbing.

Everyone looked at each other with wide, terrified gazes. Shun swallowed thickly, and approached the panel. He had to know...

He pressed a hand to the circle on the panel. An asterisk appeared on the LCD display. He was five, and he needed two more people's bracelets...

"Kyoya? Kokomi? Can you two give me a hand?" he asked, voice shaking. He didn't even realize the pun he'd made, but the mood was too dark for anyone to react anyway.

"S-sure," Kokomi whispered. The older man and woman both stepped forward. Kokomi pressed her hand to the panel, and when she pulled away, Kyoya put his in her place.

Three asterisks were now on the screen. Shun looked at everyone else. "Are you guys ready...?"

They all wordlessly nodded. Shun turned back to the red panel, and pulled down the handle...

Like before, when the nameless man had done, the door with the 5 opened. And everyone immediately recoiled in horror at both the sight and smell of what awaited them.

The nameless man was dead, appearing to have actually  _blown up_. Pieces of bloody flesh were stuck to the walls and door, and what little remained of his body was twisted at a horrid, grotesque angle on the ground. Half of his face was missing, and the other half was covered in blood.

After a few seconds, where everyone just stood there staring at the corpse, the door slammed shut.

"Augh!"

"Kusuo!" Shun cried at the noise. He spun, and saw that he had just collapsed. Immediately, he rushed to the other's side, falling to his knees and lifting Kusuo into his lap. He noticed a dark flush on Kusuo's face, and he placed a hand to Kusuo's forehead. "Oh, geez, you're burning up!"

He gingerly helped Kusuo stand, and led him over to a chair that was against the wall. Kusuo sat, and immediately buried his face in his hands, beginning to sob openly. "W-why, Shine...? Why did this have to h-happen...?" When he moved his hands to look at Shun, as if he had the answers, Shun could see the waterfall of tears tracking down his cheeks.

Unable to answer Kusuo, Shun spun on his heel, glaring at everyone else. "Alright, I want some answers, and I want them now. Does any one of you know who Zero is?! Or why we were kidnapped?!"

The only responses he got were ducked heads and awkward coughs. Shun cursed to himself.

"Well," Kusuke spoke up, "what are we waiting for? Let's get moving."

"What?!" Kokomi cried. "Are you kidding me?! I'm not going to end up like... Like..."

"Like Number 9 over there?" Kusuke finished her sentence, motioning to the door with the 5 on it. "I wasn't trying to say we go through the door or anything. I was saying, we've gotta try looking for another way out."

Everyone blinked in shock at that. "You think there is one?" Kyoya asked, clearly uncertain.

Kusuke shrugged. "Wouldn't hurt to try, would it?" he asked. "We've got plenty of time, right?"

"Yeah, I guess we do," Shun agreed, voice hesitant and careful - as if he didn't really think that they did. But he knew that this way was more likely for them to get out alive at the moment, so he nodded firmly to himself. "Let's get going, then..."

"The rest of us already searched A Deck," Kokomi noted. "So let's head down to C Deck."

Shun nodded in agreement. He turned, looking at Kusuo. "Are you okay?" he asked gently. "Can you walk?"

Kusuo nodded, looking a little dazed and flushed but otherwise fine. "Thank you, Shine..." He stood, offering Shun a soft smile. "I'll be fine. I promise."

Shun sighed softly, and nodded in understanding. "Okay, good. Then let's go."

And with that, everyone jogged quickly down the stairs, making their way to C Deck. There, waiting for them, were two metal doors. Doors that, when Shun approached each one and attempted to open them, were firmly locked.

"Guys!" Riki shouted. "There's another door over here!"

Everyone rushed over to look at the door Riki mentioned. "What's that symbol carved above the keyhole?" Shun asked. "It's a dot, with a circle around it..."

"I think that might be the 'sun' symbol," Kusuo said. "It's an astrological symbol meant to represent, well, the sun."

"Oh, we saw something like that on A Deck, didn't we?" Kaoru said.

"We did?" Riki said, frowning.

"Well, I only caught a glance," Kaoru admitted, "and it wasn't exactly like this one, but I definitely remember seeing something like it..."

"Can you show us?" Shun asked. Kaoru nodded in reply. They all made their way back up the stairs, all the way up to A Deck...

"There," Kaoru said, pointing. Everyone crowded around the door...

This symbol, as Kaoru had said, was similar to the other one they'd seen. This one was a circle, with two lines on the inside - one going up and down, and the other going left and right.

"This is the Earth symbol," Kusuo said. "See, the horizontal line represents the equator, and the other one represents the Prime Meridian. Earth."

"What about those?"

At Kokomi's words, everyone turned to see where she was pointing. There appeared to be two elevators, each with a gate in front to prevent them from being used.

To the side of both elevators were card readers. And both of them had symbols carved into them. "What's this symbol? Kusuo?" Shun asked.

"That is the Saturn symbol," Kusuo said with a smile.

"Sun, Earth and Saturn, huh?" Kusuke noted. "Sounds like Zero's got a thing for space..."

"That's not the point," Shun said. "Clearly, we need things that can open these doors and those elevators... And the symbols are there to tell us what keys or key cards will open what."

"Yeah, yeah," Kusuke said, waving a dismissive hand. "Anyway, let's keep searching. Let's go check on D Deck, yeah?"

Together, they all made their way back down the stairs...

And then, halfway down the stairs between C and D Deck, they stopped.

"The water... It's not moving," Kaoru whispered.

Indeed, the water before them, though it made D Deck entirely inaccessible, wasn't moving at all. It was like a mirror.

"Zero probably shut up all the holes and stuff that was letting the water in," Hikaru noted. "At least until our 9 hours are up. Once it's 6 AM..."

The rest of his sentence went unsaid. Wordlessly, they all turned and headed back up to B Deck.

As soon as they made it, a bell sounded from the clock. They all quietly counted out the dings, until it was silent again.

"...We've already wasted an hour," Shun whispered. "Guys, I... I don't think we have a choice..."

"What?!" Kokomi cried. "Are you insane?! Don't tell me you're actually going to go through one of those doors!"

"Oh, please," Hikaru said with a sigh. "Are you really that dense?"

"What did you call me?" Kokomi asked, whipping around to glare at him.

Hikaru sighed, and pulled a card out of his pocket. "I had hoped that I wouldn't have to do this, but here." He handed the card over to Kokomi, who snatched it away. She glared down at the paper, only for her face to melt into one of confusion.

"Wh... What is this supposed to be?" she whispered.

"Something Zero gave me," Hikaru said, nonchalantly.

At that, everyone else - except Kaoru, for some reason - crowded around Kokomi to catch a glimpse of the card. When Shun squeezed past Riki and Kyoya, he saw...

A card with a bunch of dots. What the hell?

"This is braille, isn't it?" Kusuo said.

"It is," Hikaru said. The others parted, and Kokomi handed him the card back. "See, I'm blind. And for some reason, it's because of that that Zero decided to grace me with this message... Would you like me to read it to you?"

" _Yes!_ " everyone shouted.

Hikaru placed his fingers on the dots, and began to read...


	5. Chapter 5

"'Player Number 2'," Hikaru read, the fingers on his right hand running over the bumps on the card, "'because of your inability to see, I will give you extra information that is not available to the other players. I will give you information on the REDs, the DEADs, and the function of your bracelets. What you decide to do with this information is entirely up to you. But choose wisely, for you could end up controlling your own fate for a time.'" Everyone looked at each other nervously as Hikaru continued. "'The REDs are the REcognition Devices. You will find one by every Numbered Door. When entering a Numbered Door, each person entering must place their hand on the RED.'"

 _So that's what that thing is called,_ Shun thought to himself. Though he still wondered how Number 9 had known how it worked...

"'The DEAD,'" Hikaru continued, "'is the DEActivation Device. After entering a Numbered Door, the detonator in your bracelet will be activated. The DEAD deactivates it. However, you only have 81 seconds to use it after entering a Numbered Door. It works just like the RED - simply place your hand on it and pull the lever. Only those who verified their number at the RED will be able to deactivate their detonator at the DEAD, and every person who verified at the RED must use the DEAD for it to work.'"

Hikaru paused, as if letting everyone else process the information on the DEADs before he continued. "'Finally, your bracelets. Your bracelets are where the detonator is located. It is connected to the bomb inside you. You swallowed it while unconscious. I assume, by the time you are reading this, that it will have passed your stomach and made its way to your small intestines. I suggest that you not try to regurgitate it. It will be quite unpleasant, and futile. The only 2 ways to get your bracelet off are as follows: 1. You escape from the ship. If that happens, your bracelet will unlock, and the bomb inside you will not go off. 2. Your heart rate reaches 0 beats per minute. In other words, if you die, your bracelet will fall off. Attempting to remove your bracelet or deactivate the detonator will cause the bomb inside you to immediately explode.'"

Then, Hikaru removed his hand from the card. "That's everything," he said. Shun glanced at the card. It looked like there was still more, but-

"Wait, a bomb?!" he shouted, finally processing that part. "There's a bomb inside me?!"

Despite Zero's little suggestion, he saw Kusuke shoving his fingers down his throat, and Riki punching himself in the stomach. Everyone else just looked sick, lightly touching their stomachs. Shun looked down, and felt his stomach churning.

A bomb. There was a bomb inside him.

"You're all missing the point," Hikaru said, exasperated. "What did the card say? It said that everyone who verified their numbers at the RED have to be there for the DEAD to work. That's why Number 9 blew up. He broke one of Zero's rules. If he hadn't done that, he wouldn't have blown up."

"So you're saying that we have to follow Zero's rules," Shun said.

"Great. Zero says 'jump', we say 'how high?'..." Kusuke mumbled.

"Then stay here and drown," Kokomi snapped. "But I, personally, want to live."

Kusuke and Kokomi stared each other down for a minute, and eventually Kusuke sighed. "Fine. But I'm not going through door 5."

"And why the hell do you get to be picky?" Riki snapped.

"There's a dead body behind that door," Shun said carefully. "It makes sense that he wouldn't want to go there."

"Fine, babies," Riki mumbled. Then, at a proper tone, he said, "I'll go into door 5. But I can't go alone. Any volunteers?"

After a brief silence, Kyoya spoke up. "I'll go."

"Me too," Hikaru said.

"If you're going, then I am, too!" Kaoru said.

"Of course you are!" Hikaru playfully ruffled Kaoru's hair. "You're 4, right? Without you, the three of us wouldn't be able to go into door 5."

Mentally, Shun did the math, and realized that Hikaru was right. Riki's 7, Hikaru's 2, and Kyoya's 1 didn't make a digital root of 5. They did, indeed, need Kaoru.

"Ah... Right," Kaoru mumbled, a light blush coming to his cheeks. "But... Wait, what about the others?"

Kusuo's 6, Shun's 5, Kokomi's 8 and Kusuke's 3 gave them a digital root of...

"We'll go into door 4," Shun said. Everyone else took a moment, doing the math, and then nodded.

However, Shun paused, his eyes drifting to door 5. There was, indeed, a dead body behind that door. But there could have also been  _answers_ behind that door.

"Is everyone good with the teams, then?" Riki said.

Shun made his decision-


	6. Chapter 6

"No," Shun said immediately. Everyone looked at him in shock. "I... I want to go through door 5."

"Then I do, too," Kusuo said immediately.

"No," Shun said sharply. Kusuo flinched at his tone of voice, and Shun's gaze softened. "I'm sorry. It's just, do you... Really want to see that again? The... The body?"

After a moment, Kusuo shook his head, and looked down at the floor. He looked... Defeated...

Hikaru sighed good-naturedly. "You're 5, right?" he said to Shun. "Then we just need to take 5 away from our team to make room for you."

Kaoru's gaze shot to Hikaru. "Wait, what are you-"

"Kyoya," Hikaru said, "I trust that you'll take care of Kaoru in my absence?"

Kyoya blinked, obviously stunned. "Um... Certainly," he said slowly. He placed his hands on Kaoru's shoulders, who shoved them away.

"No! I want to go with Hikaru!" he shouted.

"Don't be selfish, Kaoru," Hikaru said gently. "I promise that we'll meet again. Okay? Just be strong for me."

Kaoru bit his lip, hesitating... And then he sighed. "Okay. I'll try."

So the teams were set. Hikaru, Riki and Shun in door 5, and Kyoya, Kaoru, Kusuo, Kusuke and Kokomi in door 4.

Shun approached the RED, and placed his hand on the panel. An asterisk appeared on the screen. Riki went after him, and then Hikaru.

Shun pulled the lever, and just as before, door 5 opened. Shun and the others recoiled at the scent, but Hikaru recovered quickly and entered the room. A beep was heard as he crossed the threshold, and just like that, the other two were reminded of the bombs. Riki and Shun quickly followed after him, and the door shut behind them.

The beeping echoed in Shun's ears as he and the others searched frantically for the DEAD. It was found easily enough, as it was right next to the door they'd just entered.

One by one, they placed their hands on the DEAD, and Riki pulled the lever down... And then, the beeping stopped. They all sighed with relief.

"Are you all okay?!" Shun heard Kaoru's voice from the other side of the door.

"We're alright, Kaoru!" Hikaru said, a fond smile on his lips. "The DEAD worked!"

They could hear everyone else sigh in relief, and then they waited for their footsteps to fade into the other room before turning back towards the hallway they were in. The bloody, bloody hallway...

Shun gagged a little. Well, it was his decision to come here in the first place... "C-c'mon," he mumbled. "Let's start looking for... Whatever we're supposed to be doing here."

Riki and Hikaru nodded, and the three started moving.

A little ways down the hallway, they came to a dead end. Well, not entirely... There was a single door to the left, styled much like a French door. There was a plaque on it that said 'First-Class'.

"A first class suite. Guess we're meant to go in here," Shun noted. Riki nodded, and opened the door. Hikaru followed after him, but Shun hesitated, looking over at the remains of the nameless man.

He approached the remains slowly, getting a look at the scene. One thing he took notice of now that he hadn't before was the fact that the man's bracelet was at his side, not on his wrist. Shun recalled the card Hikaru had been reading from earlier...

"Of course. His heart... Definitely stopped," he whispered. "I'm surprised that bracelet was able to survive that explosion, though..."

After a minute, the smell of the body, of the guts and blood, got to Shun, and he rushed into the first class suite, desperate to get away before he threw up.


	7. Chapter 7

As Shun made his way into the suite, he saw that he was entirely alone. He looked around in confusion, a frown tugging at his lips.

He sighed softly, and approached the two doors that were across the room. He opened the one to the right, and saw a short hallway with three doors - two to the right, and one at the end of the hallway. He went down to the latter one, entering and finally finding his two teammates. They were standing there, staring at yet another door - this one with a strange electronic lock on it.

"Hey, guys. Let me guess - that's locked," Shun commented. Hikaru and Riki turned towards him, and nodded in response. Shun went past them, and, just to check for himself, attempted to open the door. The knob wouldn't even budge. "Well," he said with a deep sigh, "I guess this is like the rooms we woke up in. I mean, I had to find these keys and open these brief cases and stuff..."

"Right," Riki said. "I did, too. So let's get to work, then."

"Fine by me," Hikaru said with a shrug. It occurred to Shun that he may not be able to contribute much, given his blindness, but he didn't seem to be nervous about that...

As if sensing Shun's stare, Hikaru sighed. "Let me guess," he said, "you think I won't be able to contribute, is that it?"

Shun jolted at the accusation. "W-well, I, uh... Um..."

"Don't worry," Hikaru said, waving his hand flippantly. "Listen, my sight may be nonexistent, but my other senses are incredibly heightened because of that, okay? Especially my sense of hearing."

"Don't tell me you can hear a pin drop from a mile away or something," Shun said dryly.

"Of course not," Hikaru said with a scoff. "But I can use my hearing to tell where people or things are, or to just navigate around a room. You don't realize it, being that you use your sight to navigate, but hearing can be just as useful to move around."

"Oh, I see..." Shun said - though he didn't fully understand how that was possible. Oh, well. Riki left the room, heading out to the room that Shun had just been in. Hikaru and Shun stayed behind.

Hikaru was moving about the room, touching things. "Ah... This desk feels really well made," he said to Shun. "Mahogany, maybe?"

"You can tell what kind of wood it is?" Shun said.

"I have my ways, yes."

Shun gave a hum, and looked over at the bed. He awkwardly touched at the bedframe. It just felt like wood to him, he couldn't tell what kind it was... Ah, well.

He went up to the pillow at the head of the bed, seeing something poking out from underneath... He moved the pillow, and saw a sort of glass with music notes on it. His eyes went over to the piano against the wall...

He went over, getting Hikaru's attention with his movement. "This piano's really fancy," Shun said. "Looks... French, kinda." He moved a piece of paper off of the music stand, looking at it carefully. "This... This is a map of the ship, I think. Mind holding on to it?" he asked, handing it to Hikaru. Hikaru took it wordlessly.

Shun placed the glass down on the music stand, but noticed that there weren't enough notes on it for it to be considered a song.

"I'm gonna go see how Riki's doing," he said, leaving the glass on the piano. "Be right back, okay?"

Without waiting for a response, Shun left Hikaru, heading into the small hallway. He saw one of the other doors open, and peeked in to see a bathtub, a sink, and Riki, staring down at the bathtub.

"What's up?" Shun asked, getting his attention. Riki wordlessly pointed down into the bathtub, and Shun squeezed his way into the tiny room and past the large man to see what he was pointing at.

Dirty, disgusting water that caused Shun to be unable to see anything that may have been in the bathtub. "Huh," Shun said.

"It's probably here for a reason, right? The water?" Riki said, a frown tugging at his lips.

"Maybe. Let's head to the other room. If we don't need the water for anything we can come back here and drain it. It's gotta be hiding something with how foggy it is..."

"Fine by me."

Together, they got out of the room, and went down to the other room, the one that Shun had first been in. They took a proper look around, with Shun giving a slight hum. "Looks like a living room. As much of one as there can be on a ship, anyway," he said. Riki nodded in agreement.

Shun walked around the room slowly. He spotted something in the fireplace - and no, it wasn't the fire that was currently burning. He walked over, kneeling down. He saw another piece of glass with music notes on it... "Hey, Riki," he said, "I think we'll need that water after all." He motioned to a vase in the corner of the room. "Go fill that up with water and bring it here, okay?"

"You got it!" Riki said. He grabbed the vase, and rushed out of the room - using the wrong door. Shun sighed and waited for him to come out of the closet he'd just walked into.

It took him longer than expected, but when he came out he held in his hands yet another piece of glass. "Found this in a cabinet," he said, handing it to Shun before he went through the correct door.

Shun sat patiently, waiting for Riki to come back, and when he did, he took the vase and threw the water on the fire, putting it out. He then reached into the fireplace, and pulled out the glass plate. "That's three," he mumbled. "I wonder if there are anymore..."

"Ngh..."

Riki's groan caught his attention, and he turned to look at him. He was pressing his palm to his forehead, a wince on his face. "Headache?" he guessed.

"Y-yeah..." Riki mumbled. "A really bad one..." He sighed, taking a seat on one of the nearby chairs. "Damn it, what's wrong with me? First I can't remember shit except my name, and now..."

It took a moment for that last, unfinished sentence to register in Shun's mind. "Wait, what?" he said, standing up from his kneeling position in front of the fireplace. "You can't remember anything?"

"Yeah," Riki said with a nod. "I told the others while we were up on A Deck... Guess I forgot to tell you. Sorry."

"No, no, it's fine, it's not your fault," Shun said quickly, shaking his head. "So, uh... What form of amnesia, exactly, would that be? Usually people can't remember anything, except maybe talking and walking and basic stuff like that. And that's really just muscle memory, so..." Shun trailed off, realizing he was rambling. However, Riki didn't seem to mind, and simply shrugged in response to the question.

Shun sighed, and, clutching the two new glass plates to his chest, he headed for the door that would lead him back to Hikaru. "I'll be back. Feel free to join us whenever your headache goes away."

He heard Riki give a grunt in response, and that was all he needed for permission to leave, as far as he was concerned. He entered the bedroom once more. "I found two more glass things with the music notes," he said.

"I found one, too," Hikaru said. "It was in that closet there. There was also a safe and some empty briefcases. But I couldn't open the safe."

Shun nodded, placing down the two plates he'd found on top of the first one on the piano. They were all clear, letting him see the notes on the page, but...

"I think we need one more," he said, frowning. After a moment, it came to him, and he rushed out of the room, going into the room that had the bathtub. He went over, and pulled the plug out by its chain. He watched as the water drained...

Ah ha. He grinned, pulling out the final glass plate. He went back into the bedroom. He placed down the final plate, and then he sat on the small stool. He tried to play the music, but...

"Hey, something's wrong."

"I'll say," Hikaru said bluntly. "Your playing is god-awful."

"No, no, I mean... The keys aren't playing the right notes. The C key doesn't play a C, the D doesn't play a D..."

"Trial and error, then," Hikaru said. "It wouldn't be messed up like that if it wasn't meant to be part of the puzzle, right?"

Shun considered that, and nodded in agreement. He turned back to the music, and attempted to play once more...


	8. Chapter 8

After several attempts of trial and error, as Hikaru had suggested, Shun finally managed to play the music that was in front of him. He heard a beep as soon as he was done.

"That sounded like it came from the lock on the door," Hikaru said, turning his head towards the sound.

Riki entered the room. "What was that music I just heard? Sounded like a school bell."

"Huh?" Shun blinked, before his mind replayed the music he'd just done. "Oh. Yeah, I guess it did."

"Guys!" Hikaru called out, getting their attention. Riki and Shun looked, and saw him holding open the now unlocked door. Immediately, Shun stood, and he ran towards the door. Hikaru continued holding the door open until Riki came over, but...

"Riki? What are you doing?" he asked, watching Riki kneel down and put down one of the glass plates in the doorway.

"I'm doing this so it won't lock again. We might have to come back here for some reason."

"Oh?" Hikaru said, raising an eyebrow in Riki's direction. "What would you even want to come back here for?"

Riki seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then he said, "I might want to play the piano."

Hikaru and Shun both frowned. That made no sense - it would be far too difficult to play the piano as it was, with the keys all mixed up. But neither of them pointed this out and Hikaru let Riki shut the door, with the plate blocking it from shutting completely. Then, they headed down the hallway they'd found themselves in.

They attempted to open each door that they came across, but all of them ended up being locked. Shun was beginning to think that they would, indeed, have to go back into that first-class suite... Until they finally came to the end of the hallway, where an unlocked door awaited them. Shun swung it open, almost as if fearing that it would suddenly lock itself otherwise.

They came out into a much larger area. To the left, they could see a... A sort of gate. Shun ran towards it, examining it, with Hikaru and Riki right behind him.

"Looks like this thing's locked," Shun said, reaching out and shaking the bars. "And I don't see a keyhole or anything..."

"It's probably on the other side," Hikaru said with a simple shrug. Shun gave a hum, though he didn't verbally agree.

Shun turned, then, and headed away from the gate. It was locked, after all. Which obviously meant that they were meant to go in another direction...

However, he, along with Riki and Hikaru, soon came upon yet another gate. Shun and Riki both cursed, and Riki kicked at the based of the door.

"Come on, it's not that bad. I have a piece of good news for you two," Hikaru said after a moment of feeling around the gate.

"And that would be?" Shun asked, crossing his arms.

"There's a keyhole right here," Hikaru replied. "It feels like there's a symbol carved above it..."

Shun looked at it, and realized that Hikaru was right. "The female symbol...?"

"More likely the Venus symbol. And I only know that because of my brother." Hikaru gave a rueful smile. "Anyway, that means we should get looking for a key that will open this door, right?"

"And I think I know where it is," Riki said, pointing to their right. Then, for Hikaru's benefit, he tacked on, "There's a hallway just down there."

Hikaru nodded in understanding. Shun headed down the hallway first, with Hikaru following close behind, and Riki bringing up the rear.

The first door they attempted to open was locked, unfortunately. But the second one, the only other one, gave way easily, and led them into a casino.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big sorry to everyone who reads this fic (especially Gai_Lazuli who is the only person to comment on this fic, so they're automatically my favorite). My interest in Zero Escape kinda fades in and out but when I get into it I get INTO IT. My hype is back, but likely not for long as I'll be starting college this Thursday so I'll have to focus on that. I'll do my best to continue updating though!

Shun and Riki looked around the casino as the three of them stepped into the room. The moment they were all in, the door behind them slammed shut. Shun spun on his heel and attempted to open it again, to no avail. The three of them sighed in annoyance.

"Guess we're meant to get out of here, too," Shun said.

He moved slowly around the room, as did Hikaru and Riki. The room was in a half-circle shape, with the two doors on opposite ends of the half-circle. Shun guessed that the other door must have been the locked door from before - though there wasn't any way to be sure until they got out. So, he set his mind to searching the room.

The first thing he noticed was a baccarat table in the back of the room. Shun approached it, looking at it carefully. He saw two things-

One, a playing card just casually laying there - too casually, he decided, and he picked it up.

Two, a piece of glass covering another playing card. The glass wouldn't move, wouldn't let him get the card. He decided, then, that he had to do something, somehow, to get that card... Probably...

He took one more look at the card that was under the glass. An 8, huh? Judging by the placement of the card, and the rules of baccarat... He nodded firmly to himself.

He heard a noise, and spun on his heel. There was Riki, standing in front of a fireplace. "Something fell," he said, holding up a bag for Shun to see. "I just turned on these lamps and it fell..."

Shun walked over, looking at the part of the wall the lamps were shining on. The light of both was passing through two glass prisms with some odd lines on the inside. It made some... Interesting shadows on the wall. Shadows in the shapes of card types.

"Club, diamond, heart," he noted. Then he took the bag from Riki, and looked inside. "Coins..."

Riki looked off to the side, and nudged Shun. "Maybe you're supposed to use that thing?" he suggested, pointing over to a slot machine. Shun nodded a little in agreement, then picked up the other playing card he saw between the lamps before he headed over to the slot machine.

He examined the machine for a moment. There was a drawer on the bottom, but when he tried to open it, he found it locked. "Of course," he mumbled. He put in one coin, and the lights lit up, and the slots began to spin. "I guess I have to... Win... To get it to unlock. Makes sense," he said to himself.

"A puzzle like this relying on a game of chance doesn't seem like a good set up," Hikaru said with a frown, leaning against a nearby wall. "I mean, the object of the game as a whole is to get to the door with the 9 on it, right? But you can't do that if you get stuck in one of these rooms. And coins, as many as you may have been given, are limited in number."

"Yeah..." Shun mumbled, frowning. "Though I doubt someone who kidnaps the participants cares much about the fairness of the game."

Still, it made sense, what Hikaru said. He looked down at the machine. The buttons, from left to right, were labelled with a diamond, a heart and a club...

Ah. He got it.

He looked over to where the light was shining on the wall, through the prisms, to double-check the order, then turned back to the slot machine, and pressed the club, then the diamond, then the heart.

One by one, the slots all stopped at 7. The drawer in the bottom of the machine popped open.

Inside was another playing card, and a key with the Venus symbol. "I found the key for the gate!" he declared, holding it above his head as he grinned over to Hikaru and Riki.

"Great!" Riki said. "Now we just have to get out of this room!"

Shun nodded, and looked over at the baccarat table. 8... Baccarat... He looked down at the three cards he held - a 2, a 3 and a 6 - then scanned the room. He spotted a table with chairs surrounding it, which happened to have a card laying on it. He approached and picked it up. 5.

"If  I find a card with a 4, I might be able to figure out that baccarat table," he mumbled.

He headed towards the circular bar next to the baccarat table. Behind it, laying on the counter, was a card with a 7. Not what he needed, but he picked it up anyway. He turned around, and near the alcohol, he found exactly what he was looking for. He snatched up the card and headed for the baccarat table.

He eyed the 8 card, hidden below a layer of glass, then the three outlined indentations below that. Carefully, he placed down the 2, 3 and 4 cards within those indentations. And just like that, the glass moved, allowing him to take the 8 card. But he found, when he tried to pick them up, that the three cards he'd put down seemed to have gotten stuck to the table - he couldn't move them.

Shun sighed, and took the 8 card, then looked around the casino once more. Then, he spotted it. A large box that said 'LOCK' that was on the wall. He went over. There were two slots on the box - one held an ace card, and the other was empty. And right next to that, it was labelled with a 9. And ace is equal to one, so...

He put in the 8 card, and just like that, the 9 slid away to reveal three more card slots with a 9 below it.

Shun did the math. 5, 6 and 7 didn't make 9. But it did have a  _digital root_ of 9. He placed in the cards, and the red label that said 'LOCK' changed to a blue one that said 'OPEN'.


	10. Chapter 10

"Did it work? Is the door unlocked now?" Riki asked.

"I hope so," Shun said, moving towards the door opposite the one they'd come in. "If not, I'm completely out of ideas."

Luckily, though, the door gave way easily, and they all rushed out into the hallway. It was a familiar one - the one with the gates. Shun, of course, had already deduced that this would be the case, and he immediately walked towards the gate with the Venus symbol on the lock. Riki and Hikaru followed close behind.

Shun eyed the Venus symbol carved into the gate, then pulled out the key they'd gotten from the casino. Without wasting one more second, he stuck the key into the hole, and gave it a twist...

And with the sound of metal on metal echoing in his ears, he felt the lock click open.

"Sounds like it worked," Hikaru said with a smile.

"Let's get this thing open," Shun said.

"Let me help," Riki offered. Shun grabbed the handle on the left side, while Riki grabbed the right one. On the count of three, they pushed, and the gate slowly creaked open.

Hikaru hummed. "Sounds like you opened it."

"Yeah. We can get to the stairs on the other side now," Riki noted.

"Hikaru, will you be okay?" Shun asked. "The stairs..."

"Don't underestimate me,  _Shine_ ," Hikaru said, teasing him with the nickname Kusuo had called him. "I probably wouldn't trip even if I ran down these stairs backwards."

Riki shrugged. "Good enough for me. Let's go."

At those words, they all headed down the stairs, soon finding themselves on C Deck.

Shun and Riki both looked around. "Everything looks fine here..." Shun mumbled.

"You should check the next deck down, just to be safe," Hikaru suggested.

Shun gave a hum in reply. He moved, heading down the stairs. Once he reached the water, he called back up to the other two, "Nothing's changed! D Deck is completely underwater!"

"So it's like the bottom of the central staircase," Riki said.

"The water level hasn't changed much, either," Shun said as he made his way back up to the other two. Once he was properly back on C Deck, he, Riki and Hikaru began to properly take stock of the area.

"There's two elevators just down that way," Riki noted. He led Shun and Hikaru. The elevators were opposite the stairs they'd come down. 

"There's a card reader between them... With a... Female devil on it?" Riki said, frowning in confusion.

Shun examined the card reader in question. Indeed, the symbol on it appeared to be the female symbol with horns on it.

Hikaru reached out, feeling the carved-in symbol, before declaring, "If I remember correctly, this is the symbol for Mercury. I think the 'devil horns' are meant to be the wings and staff."

"Wings and staff?" Riki repeated. "I mean, wings, maybe, sort of, but I don't see how that's a staff..."

"Not really the point here," Shun mumbled, even if he mentally agreed with Riki's observation. "Anyway, unless we find a way to activate the card reader, we won't be able to use the elevators."

"So we've gotta find a key card with this devil-lady on it," Riki declared. Obviously, he wasn't accepting Mercury's wings and staff.

Hikaru and Shun chose not to argue with him, and turned back around, once more facing the stairs they'd come from. "Let's the check the hallway to the left," Shun suggested.

At his word, the three started down that hallway. However, Shun and Riki stopped short, with Shun speaking for Hikaru's benefit, "There's tons of doors!"

"We'll never be able to search all these," Riki said with a sigh.

The hallway of doors almost appeared to stretch on forever. Shun gave a deep sigh. "We should come back here later, I think. Let's check the other side, yeah?"

Hikaru and Riki both nodded their agreement, and then they turned on their heels, heading down the other hallway, the one to the right of the stairs. This hallway seemed to go on for a while as well, but when they came out of it, they ended up in an area similar to the one from the deck above them. On the left side of the room were four French-styled doors.

"Well, at least there are only four," Shun said optimistically. He approached the closest one, and gave a slight tug on the handle. He found that it wasn't locked, and gave way easily as he swung it open.

And he didn't know what to make of what he saw in front of him. He simply stood there, unable to form a complete sentence. Riki stood there with wide eyes and gaping mouth.

Finally, it was Hikaru who broke the silence.

"This... Smells like a hospital."

Admittedly, Hikaru's observation didn't seem too far off. It certainly LOOKED like an over-sized hospital room. It was full of lines upon lines of beds. Simple ones, made of nothing more than pipe and thin mattresses. Also, there were shelves in the center of the room, with medicine and surgical tools.

Once they processed the sheer size of the room, though, they finally took notice of the four doors on the other side of the room.

"Numbered doors!" Shun cried before he could stop himself.

The one on the far left was door 3. The next one was blank, but the next one was door 7, and following that one was door 8. Just like the previous numbered doors, the numbers were on there in bloody red paint.

"Why's the door between 3 and 7 blank?" Riki asked. "Think it means something?"

"We shouldn't worry about it yet. Let's see if they'll open," Shun said. He quickly crossed the 'hospital' room, making his way to door 3. He tugged on the handle, but it refused to give. Riki was already on his way to checking door 7, with Hikaru following, so Shun went to door 8.

Same result for both. Shun sighed. "Well, I didn't really expect them to be open," he mumbled.

"There are rules," Hikaru said. "I mean, look at what happened to Number 9. If that's supposed to happen when you break a rule, Zero has to be pretty damn careful to make sure we can't break them with no consequences." Hikaru motioned to the RED next to door 8. "You have to-"

"Hey! Shut up for a second and check this out!" Riki shouted, gawking at the RED next to door 7. Shun and Hikaru walked over, and Shun looked.

"It's... Blank," he said. "Wait, didn't the REDs outside doors 4 and 5 say 'VACANT' on them?"

"They did. And they showed little stars when you'd put up your wrist, too. One for each number," Riki said. "Wanna try?"

Shun shrugged and lifted his wrist, pressing a hand to the circle.

And nothing happened. No star, no beep, nothing.

Riki and Hikaru both tried it as well, but nothing happened for them, either. Same when Shun tried to pull the lever.

"Is it broken?" Shun asked to no one in particular. Hikaru and Riki both shrugged. "...We should check the other two."

Shun and Hikaru went to door 8's RED, while Riki went and checked door 3.

Both of them were broken. "This is so weird," Shun whispered.

"Do you think Zero did this?" Riki asked.

"I doubt it," Hikaru said. "Think about it. Zero's been pretty well prepared so far, right? The bombs, the puzzle clues, everything. Why would they suddenly fuck up now?"

"To make sure that we can't win?" Shun suggested.

"What's the point in putting on a game that people can't win?" Riki asked. Shun shrugged.

"This is a pretty illegal game. Maybe they're worried we'll go to the police..."

"None of us have seen Zero's face, though. It wouldn't matter if we went to the police," Hikaru pointed out as he went over to door 8's RED once more. He ran his hands over it, and soon his hand paused on the underside of the RED. "Ah, here we are. Shun, could you come over here and tell me what you see?"

Shun walked over. Unable to help himself, he said, "I see you fondling the RED?"

Riki hid his laughter behind a hand, and Hikaru gave Shun a deadpan look. "Under the RED, Shun. Tell me what you see."

Shun snickered to himself, and looked underneath the RED, near where Hikaru's hand was. "Ah! There's a sort of slot there!"

"Yeah. I bet someone pulled something out of these things to stop them from working."

"But... Who?" Riki asked.

"And why?" Shun added.

And before either of those questions could be answered, the door that led out to the hallway was being pulled open.


	11. Chapter 11

Shun, Riki and Hikaru spun towards the door when they heard it being pulled open. And there stood...

"Kusuo!" he shouted.

Kusuo came to a halt when he saw Shun, and nearly got knocked over by the others that were with him. "Kyoya, Kusuke, Kaoru and Kokomi, too," Riki said, gawking at the group with wide eyes. "Looks like everyone's here..."

Shun blinked. "What's going on? Why are you all here?"

"We could ask you the same question," Kusuke said defensively.

Kyoya sighed at Kusuke's tone. "I think we should all calm down," he said pointedly, "and exchange information."

Once the surprise wore off, everyone began to talk at once, desperate to exchange their information. They described, in detail, the rooms they'd been through, and the routes they'd taken to end up in the same room. In the end, none of it was particularly useful information, but they didn't seem to mind, what with how happy they all were to see each other again.

True, Number 9's death was still fresh in their minds, but... That was part of the reason they were so relieved, so happy. Not that they were happy he had died, but... They were happy that  _they_ were _alive_. Indeed, each one of them, though the degree of it varied from person to person, was showing their cheer with a smile on their face.

"...And that's what we know," Shun said, finishing his team's explanation.

"This isn't good," Kusuo said - an obvious observation. "If the RED doesn't work... We can't keep going."

"What about that long hallway, then?" Shun suggested. "Maybe we can find somewhere there that we could go."

"No, there's nothing," Kyoya said. "The 5 of us had a look down that hallway. There's nothing but more hospital rooms - although they're smaller than this one."

"There  _was_ a door at the end of the hallway," Kaoru said. "It was locked, though."

"It had one of those... Solar system marks on it," Kusuke added quickly. "It was... What'd you say it was called, Kusuo?"

"The Jupiter symbol."

"Jupiter..." Hikaru repeated softly.

"I wonder what it means... What all of it means," Kokomi said.

And she wasn't the only one - everyone seemed to be confused about the present situation. "While we're asking what things mean," Shun spoke, "what do you guys think is the deal with this room?"

"What do you mean?" Riki asked.

"I mean, I thought this was meant to be a cruise ship, but I don't think a cruise ship would have a huge hospital room like this."

Shun would have expected anyone else to answer this question. Anyone else. But Riki was the one who spoke.

"Well, maybe it's a hospital ship. Like the Britannic or something."

"The... Britannic?" Shun repeated. He wasn't sure what was more shocking - Riki's knowledge or the apparent identity of their prison.

"What's the Britannic?" Kokomi asked, crossing her arms.

Riki met Kokomi's gaze, and appeared to think for a moment. "The Britannic... It was a sister ship to the Titanic, built in the early twentieth century. There were two sister ships of the Titanic, actually, and they looked exactly the same. The Britannic was originally meant to be a passenger liner, like the Titanic, but when World War I began shortly after its launch, the British Navy took it over and turned it into a hospital ship. At some point, it was damaged by a German mine in the Aegean sea. But it ran aground afterward, so it didn't sink."

"What happened after that?" Hikaru asked.

"One theory is that a rich man from Japan, who'd been one of the few to survive the Titanic sinking, bought it. His name was Lord Gordain. Word is the trauma of what happened with the Titanic turned him into some kind of obsessive collector of all things related to the Titanic. He even wanted the Titanic itself, but obviously that was impossible. So he bought the Britannic - an exact replica."

Shun frowned. "So you're saying this... Lord Gordain... He bought this ship?"

"Yeah..." Riki nodded. "I think I am."

"That's impossible!" Kusuke said. "No way are we in a boat that's a century old!"

"Pay attention," Kokomi hissed. "I'm sure there's more."

"Nope," Riki said. "That's all."

Kokomi frowned. "Well, do you have any proof, then? You know, that this is really the Britannic?"

It was here that Riki seemed to hesitate. "Well, um... You know, it's just kind of like the Titanic, and it's got a hospital, so I figured..."

"Don't tell me that's your only reason!" Shun shouted.

"N-no! I've got more!"

"Then let's hear it," Shun said, crossing his arms.

Riki fumbled for words. "Well, uh... I mean..." He rubbed the back of his neck, looking around nervously, desperately avoiding looking at the others.

Finally, he just said, "I dunno..."

Kokomi sighed. "Looks like your memory isn't back yet after all."

"Yeah... Sorry," Riki mumbled.

Then, as if to save Riki's ego from further embarrassment, a gonging bell began to ring. It had the same sound as the bell from the main stairway. Shun carefully counted out each gong. "9... 10... 11..." He sighed when the gongs stopped. "It's 11."

"We have 7 hours left, then," Kaoru said.

"We should get going and try to find the missing RED parts," Riki said.

Kokomi scowled at the suggestion. "What do you mean 'find'? How do you propose we do that?"

"Well, I mean, we've looked everywhere in this room," Riki pointed out, seeing as they had been searching the room as they talked. "But we haven't found anything, right?"

"Right..." Kokomi said slowly.

"That only leaves one place to look, then."

"One?" Shun repeated.

Here, Riki hesitated. "Uh, well, I guess more than one..."

Everyone looked around, obviously confused by what Riki was saying. Then, it dawned on Kokomi, and she looked at Riki in shock. "Hold on! You don't mean that we have to search all those other rooms, right?!"

"Not really. I mean, you guys already checked out some of them before you came here, right?"

"We each checked 1 room," Kyoya confirmed.

"Well, that's 5 that we don't have to search," Riki said with a shrug. "That leaves 48 rooms. We can split them up, 6 rooms apiece."

"There are 48 other rooms?" Shun said dryly.

Riki shifted nervously at the question. "Uh... Maybe?"

Everyone sighed, obviously not excited at this prospect, but they all seemed to know that they had no other choice. So, they discussed what rooms they would search, and in what order. Shun, for instance, was to search the starboard side, moving from fore to aft.

Once everyone knew what rooms they were searching, they set a time limit.

"How about two hours?" Shun suggested. "That's a lot of rooms, after all, and we should search them as thoroughly as we can. When the bell rings for 1 AM, we'll all meet back here. In this room." He pointed down at the floor for emphasis.

"Sounds fine by me," Kyoya said. Everyone else agreed.

"If anyone finds what we're looking for, make sure to shout for the others, okay?" Kokomi said.

"Obviously," Kusuke said with a roll of his eyes. Kokomi glared, but didn't make any further commentary.

"I hope we can find them in time..." Kaoru said, rubbing his upper arm nervously.

"If we can't, we'll just have to come back and talk about other options," Shun said with a sigh.

"I suppose," Kusuke said.

"Then let's get going," Shun said.

And with that, everyone took off running towards their respective rooms to begin their searching.

But one hour passed, and no one found anything.

Then another, and it was time for them to meet back at the hospital room.

Shun sighed, trudging his way back to the hospital room. No one had called at any point, which meant no one had found the missing RED pieces...

And yet, as he opened the door, he saw Kusuke, Kaoru, Kokomi, Kusuo, Riki and Kyoya all crowded around one of the REDs. The one in front of door 8, to be specific.

Shun frowned in confusion. "Guys, what's going on?!" he shouted, weaving his way through the beds to get to the other side of the room.

It was Kusuo who answered him, once he was close enough. "Shine, look!" he said, pointing at the RED. So Shun pushed through the others so he was standing in front of it.

Immediately, he saw what he meant.

The RED, previously blank, now had the word 'VACANT' in green LCD letters. Shun sighed in annoyance. "Come on, guys. I thought we all agreed that we would shout if we found the parts," he said as he turned to face the group. "Who was it?"

"Well..." Kusuo began, but then fell silent. He looked completely confused, and the others were no better.

"What the hell? What's going on with you guys?!" Shun demanded to know. They clearly all knew things that he didn't, and he wasn't going to stand for that.

Finally, Kokomi spoke.

"We don't know."

Shun blinked. "You don't know?" he repeated.

"When I got back," she said, "it was already like this. And I was the first back - no one else was here. But somehow, the pieces were already back in the RED..."

Shun blinked. He turned and looked under the RED - just to make sure. Indeed, the slot that had been open was now covered with metal. He stood up properly, and looked back at the group. "What about the other two?" he asked.

"They're the same," Kokomi replied.

Shun turned, and went to check the other two REDs - just to be safe. Indeed, they both had the word 'VACANT' on their screens. So he returned back to the group, now just as bewildered as the rest of them.

"So... None of you has any idea what the hell happened here, right?" he said, just to make sure.

"That's right," Kyoya said.

"None," Kusuo confirmed.

Riki raised his hands up, as if to say 'not me', and Kusuke gave a shrug.

Kaoru lowered his head, an unreadable expression on his face. He'd been silent this whole time, staring blankly at the wall...

It was then that Shun realized someone was missing from their group.

"Where's Hikaru?"


	12. Chapter 12

Shun swept his eyes around the room, searching for Hikaru's presence. But he was nowhere to be seen.

"Does this mean... He found the pieces?" he wondered aloud.

"Well," Kyoya began, "there's not exactly anything to suggest that... But then, nothing to suggest he didn't, either."

"We won't know until we can ask him in person," Kokomi said with a sigh.

"Whatever he did or didn't do," Riki said, "he's pretty damn late. Where the hell is he? What's he up to?"

"Maybe he's lost," Kusuo whispered.

"That seems likely," Kusuke said with a shrug. "I mean, the guy can't see. It's a miracle he gets around in the first place, really."

Finally, Kaoru entered the conversation, raising his head sharply and glaring at everyone. "That's impossible!" he shouted. Everyone jolted at the volume of his voice. "Yeah, he's blind! So fucking what?! He's got amazing hearing! He can get around just as well as anyone else who can see! Maybe even better!" He started to shake, fists clenched at his side. It appeared his sanity was hanging by a thread. "He... He can't be lost... It's impossible..."

He spun around, but just before he did, Shun could see his eyes becoming glassy with tears. "I'm going to look for him!" He started to run off before the sentence had even finished.

"Wait, Kaoru!" Shun shouted. But the other didn't listen, and Shun was too slow. Kaoru kept going, and before anyone else could react, he was out of the room. Shun sighed. "Well... That didn't work... What do we do now?"

"Well, the RED is working," Kokomi said.

But Kusuo's eyes widened at the suggestion. "No!" he shouted. "We're not leaving them behind! We have to go look for them!"

Riki sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. Kusuke, meanwhile, gave a scoff. "Yes, Kusuo, what a brilliant idea," he said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "We wasted lots of time already, searching for some electronic junk. Now let's go search for a missing twin and another twin who's probably going insane. Excellent."

"Then stay here, if you really want to," Kyoya said. "But there's no time for us to argue. We only have 5 hours left."

Shun and the others nodded. Then, they took off running out the door. When they came to the stairs that led up to B Deck, they all decided to split up.

While most of them went off on their own, Kusuo stayed by Shun. Shun didn't mind at all. "Where should we start?" Kusuo asked, folding his hands behind his back as he looked to Shun for guidance.

Shun considered it, and after a moment, suggested the first class cabin on B Deck. Kusuo agreed, and so they ran up the stairs, taking two at a time.

Outside the first class cabin, they saw Kaoru, standing in front of a wall. He just stood there, staring blankly at a random point on the wall. Slowly, Shun and Kusuo approached.

"Are you alright?" Shun asked gently. Kaoru didn't respond. "I... I know you're worried... But, um..."

Everything he came up with just rang of hollow comfort. He hesitated.

Kaoru, standing in front of him, looked so scared. He looked so consumed by worry and terror that Shun felt like it would lead to something dangerous if he didn't help him. It didn't surprise him, exactly. Kaoru had lost his brother - who he appeared to be very close to.

Suddenly, Kaoru mumbled something. Shun couldn't quite make it out, though. He just kept repeating it.

"Uh, can you... Repeat that?" Kusuo asked.

"I said  _LEAVE ME ALONE!_ " Kaoru suddenly screeched, eyes coming to life with fury. "You're annoying me! Even your breathing is pissing me the FUCK off! Go away!"

Shun and Kusuo both took steps back, visibly stunned.

"Why are you still here?!" Kaoru demanded. "Didn't you hear me?!"

Still, the two didn't move, still too shocked by Kaoru's sudden mood change.

"Fine," Kaoru spat. "If you aren't gonna leave, then I'll-"

"Okay, okay," Shun said quickly. He didn't know what Kaoru planned to end that sentence with, but he didn't want to know. "We'll leave. Let's go, Kusuo."

Kusuo gave a slow nod. The pair turned, and walked away.

As they did, Shun turned his head back slightly, and could see Kaoru wiping tears from his cheeks.

Once they were back in front of the stairs, Shun gave a soft sigh. Kaoru had made it that much clearer how close to the edge one could get in such a short amount of time, especially in their situation. Though, with the way he'd been screaming, maybe he already went over the edge...

Shun shook his head slightly. He couldn't think about that.

"We really have to find Hikaru. For Kaoru's sake."

He turned to Kusuo. "Where do you want to go next? The casino? It's right here..."

"Sounds good," Kusuo replied, giving a firm nod. They turned and headed down the hallway to their right.

There, they found Kokomi. She was leaning against the wall, examining her nails.

Shun and Kusuo blinked. "Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Shun demanded to know.

Kokomi looked up, unimpressed. "Looking for Hikaru," she said dryly.

"In your cuticles?" Shun snapped.

Kokomi shrugged, then changed the subject. "By the way, I have a proposal for you two. Care to hear it?"

Shun and Kusuo sighed. "What is it?" Shun asked.

"I won't beat around the bush," Kokomi said, adjusting the sleeves of her fur jacket. "Why don't we team up?"

"Team up?" Shun repeated incredulously.

"Yeah. I want to team up and go through a door with you guys."

"That's impossible," Shun pointed out. "I'm 5, Kusuo's 6, and you're 8. Our digital root would be 1. We haven't found door 1."

"Then we add Riki," Kokomi said with a shrug. "Then we can go through door 8."

Kusuo and Shun frowned. "But... What about the others?" Shun asked.

"Well, do the math," Kokomi said.

But Shun already had.

"Their digital root is 1," he said.

"That's right," Kokomi said casually.

"And you obviously know we haven't found door 1," Shun whispered.

"Obviously," Kokomi repeated.

"Are you saying you'd leave them behind?" Kusuo asked, looking horrified at the prospect. Kokomi, however, scoffed.

"Of course not. Once we get off of the ship, we can come back and rescue them. Then we wouldn't really be leaving them behind, right?"

Kusuo's horrified expression turned into an angry one. "Don't try to lie to us," he said. "I don't think you  _would_ come back and rescue them."

"Really?" Kokomi's eyebrows went up. "Why's that?"

"Because we have less than 5 hours left," Kusuo said. "Even if we managed to escape... There's no way we'd be able to come back to rescue them in time."

"You never know," Kokomi replied.

"You're not thinking this through properly," Shun said. "Even if we did bring Riki, we wouldn't be able to leave the ship. We wouldn't be able to open door 9."

"Yeah!" Kusuo said quickly. "We wouldn't be able to make 9 with just us! We'd have to add Kyoya! But we couldn't bring him through door 8!"

Kokomi hummed. "Well... That's unfortunate."

"That's all you have to say?" Shun snapped. Kokomi didn't seem to react.

"Let's... Let's just try to find another way," Kusuo said. "A way to get out with all 8 of us."

Kokomi scoffed at that. "That's impossible. Please tell me you're joking." When Kusuo just continued staring at her, determined, Kokomi sighed. "You do realize that only 5, at most, can go through a numbered door, right? The 9 door won't be an exception. At least 3 people will get left behind."

Kusuo's determined gaze fell into a broken one, and he ducked his head. Shun sighed. "Yeah... That's true," he said softly.

But then, he realized something. Kokomi was acting so... Calm about this matter. Like she... Didn't care about how those 3 people would die.

As if sensing Shun's thoughts, Kokomi averted her gaze. "Can I have a moment alone?" she whispered. "I have things to think about."

Nothing more was said. Shun and Kusuo left her where she was. When they got back to the stairs, Kusuo whispered, "That wasn't a very pleasant conversation..."

"Yeah," Shun said. It was all he could say. His heart felt heavy, and it was weighing him down. But he sighed, and tried to shake it off. "Let's just focus on trying to find Hikaru."

Kusuo nodded slightly. "We can... Think about the other things later," he said. "For now, uh... How about we go down to the hallway on C Deck? The one with all the rooms?"

So they went back down to C Deck, and turned towards that hallway. And there, shouting for Hikaru, was Kyoya. "Hikaru!" he shouted. "Where are you?! Where'd you go?!"

"Looks like Kyoya has this area handled," Kusuo said. "We can go check out the hospital room again."

"Sounds good to me," Shun said with a shrug.

They turned on their heels and headed down to the hospital room. When they got inside, they spotted Kusuke, standing next to the number 3 door. They walked up to him.

"What are you doing?" Shun asked.

"Can't tell?" Kusuke asked with a smirk. "I'm checking out the RED."

"Why?" Kusuo asked. "Is something bothering you?"

"What, it's not bothering you?" Kusuke snapped.

Kusuo jolted back. "What?"

"This... The electronic slot thing. Why wouldn't you wonder who put it back in?"

Kusuo gave a soft sigh. "Y-yeah. That's true," he said. "I mean, I'm curious, too, but..."

"Who do you think did it?" Kusuke asked, narrowing his eyes at Kusuo, who simply shook his head.

"I don't know."

Kusuke rolled his eyes, and looked at Shun. "What about you, Shun? Who do you think fixed it for us?"

Shun blinked, taking a step back in slight shock at being called out. He hesitated, then said, "Maybe it was Zero?"

"Why would you think that?" Kusuke asked.

"Well, he was the one who set this whole thing up, right?"

"Don't you think that should be the opposite, then?" Kusuke replied. "I mean, who do you think took it out in the first place?"

"Probably... Zero," Shun mumbled.

"Exactly. So why would he take them out, after he'd already taken them out himself?"

Shun frowned. "Yeah... I guess you have a point."

"So, who really put the stuff back in the REDs, then, Shun?"

"You think... It was one of us?" Shun asked. "But if that's true, then whoever did it doesn't want the others to know they fixed it."

"Yep."

"But why?"

Kusuke shrugged. "Maybe if they came clean, we'd find out they did something else. Something bad."

"Something bad?" Shun repeated. "Like what?"

"Whatever it is, it's worth hiding." Kusuke's eyes narrowed. "Of course, it could have something to do with Hikaru's disappearance."

"You think they did something to Hikaru?"

Kusuke only nodded.

Shun looked at him, wary. Originally, he'd felt that Kusuke wasn't all that clever. But now, it felt like he was clever on some level that Shun couldn't understand.

When Kusuke finally spoke, his voice was soft.

"If you trust anybody in this game," he said, "you're gonna lose." He glanced briefly at Kusuo, then back to Shun. "The person you trust the  _most_ could easily be the one who's gonna end up stabbing you in the back."

And with that depressing statement, Kusuke turned and went to stand on the other side of the room. Kusuo gave an awkward laugh, and he and Shun shared a nervous smile.

Eventually, everyone else came back to the hospital room, as well.

"Look, Hikaru hasn't been anywhere we've searched," Kokomi pointed out, looking at each of them. "We can't keep looking. Wherever he is, it's not here. We need to get moving."

No one could disagree. Hikaru seemed to have up and vanished. There was no point in continuing to search. The others looked like they were thinking the same thing, but they all stayed silent.

Eventually, Riki spoke. "We don't have a choice. Kokomi is right. We have to get moving." He looked over at the three Numbered Doors. "There's a problem, though. We have to figure out who's gonna go through what door."

 


	13. Chapter 13

A brief silence fell over the group, but it didn't last long. "I have a proposal," Kokomi said.

Shun's thoughts flew to the conversation they'd had earlier. He watched, warily, as she moved, pacing back and forth. The clicks of the heels of her boots were almost deafening in the silence.

Eventually, she stopped, and spun to meet everyone's gazes. And her suggestion knocked the wind from Shun's lungs.

"Let's decide on one person to sacrifice."

Kyoya blinked in shock. "Sacrifice?" he repeated.

"Well," Kokomi said, "that's a bit of a harsh word, I admit. But the idea is a sound one." She placed her hands on her hips. "Surely you've all figured this out. We can't all make it through those doors. For example, splitting into teams of 4 and 3 people, 3 people will get left behind. 5 and 2 will yield the same result - 2 people get left behind. But if we split into 3 teams of 3, 3 and 1, only that last person will get left behind."

Shun quickly did the math, just to make sure that Kokomi wasn't wrong about the 4 and 3 part of her explanation. Indeed, if there was a group with 4 people, the other group would always have a digital root that didn't match a door.

Eventually, Riki spoke with a strained voice, "You're saying we have to decide who's staying behind. Right?"

"Exactly," Kokomi said with a short nod. "In this situation, it's both logically and morally the best solution. If 6 people want to survive, 1 has to sacrifice themselves."

Kusuo, however, seemed to disagree. "That's too cruel!" he shouted, glaring at Kokomi. "I can't believe you'd suggest it!"

Kokomi leveled a calm gaze on Kusuo. "What exactly is so cruel about it?"

"Sacrificing someone... Letting them  _die_ just so that you can live..."

"Then what's your plan, Kusuo?" Kokomi asked. "Maybe you want to sacrifice 2 people? Give them some company while they die?"

"No! That's not what I meant and you know it!" Kusuo snapped. "We shouldn't sacrifice anyone!"

"Didn't I just explain that that's impossible? Or were you busy staring at your precious _Shine_?"

Kusuo's cheeks lit up a bright red. "I heard you! I just-"

"Okay, okay. Calm down, both of you," Kusuke said, stepping between Kusuo and Kokomi. "Kusuo, I know it's hard to hear, but... Kokomi is right. I mean, it's not as if us staying _here_ is going to save any of us, right? We have to get to the 9 door somehow, and Kokomi's figured out the one and only way we can make it there. Or, well, the way that ends with the most people being alive and happy."

"Exactly. And making the most people happy is how democracy works," Kokomi said. "And speaking of democracy, I think the best way for us to decide who's going to be sacrificed would be through a vote. How's that sound?"

"No!" Kusuo said.

"No one asked you, shut up!" Kokomi immediately replied. "How about you, Kusuke?"

Kusuke blinked. "Well, it makes the most sense, like you said. So I agree."

"Counting my vote, that makes 2 votes for this idea. Riki, what's your thoughts?"

Riki sighed, scratching the back of his neck. "Well, I don't exactly agree, but... I don't see any other way. Unless we all wanna die."

"Good, you get it," Kokomi said with a sweet smile. "I just need one more vote for this to be decided..." And immediately, her eyes fell on Kaoru. "How about you?"

Kaoru was sitting on one of the nearby beds, staring down at the floor in silence, with his arms crossed over his chest as if to shield him from the others. He made a small noise in the back of his throat, but didn't otherwise acknowledge Kokomi's question. There was no sign that he'd even been paying attention this entire time.

Kokomi, however, didn't give up. She walked over to Kaoru, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Kaoru? You know that your brother  _has_ to be behind 1 of the Numbered Doors, right?" she said in a soft voice. "We've searched everywhere else, but we couldn't find him, right?"

Slowly, Kaoru lifted his head, looking hesitantly up at Kokomi.

"If we just sacrifice 1 person, we can look for him. I'll help you find your brother." She tilted her head. "You trust me... Right?"

Kaoru was silent for a moment, then he lowered his head again. "...Yeah," he whispered.

Kokomi smirked, and turned back to the rest of the group. "The motion carries," she said, holding her head high. "Now, let's do another vote, to-"

"That won't be necessary."

Kyoya's voice made everyone jump, as he hadn't spoken for the entirety of Kokomi's speech. 6 pairs of eyes turned to look at the older man. He didn't seem to notice, or care about, the new attention placed on him.

"I'll stay," he said. "That should solve the problem, correct?"

Everyone gasped softly. "Kyoya!" Kusuo cried. "What are you saying?! You can't do that! It won't solve anything!" His voice shook as he spoke. He looked around desperately, looking for someone to agree with him.

Kyoya, meanwhile, simply looked at Kusuo. "Kusuo, I apologize, but it appears you've misunderstood me," he said. "Yes, I said I would stay. But that does not mean I will sacrifice myself."

Kusuo's gaze snapped back to Kyoya. "...What?"

"While I may not trust Zero, I do trust the rest of you. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, after all. And I'm certain that you will come back for me."

"Hold on a second," Kusuke said. "You realize that that goes way beyond the bounds of 'optimistic', right? As far as I can tell, those doors are 1-way only. You go in, not out."

"Yes, I realize this," Kyoya replied. "However, this will not be the case once you've escaped the ship."

"What?" Kusuke and Riki said in unison.

"Once you've escaped..." Kyoya said, "Once you've won the Nonary Game, I must beg of you - come back and rescue me. Preferably within the time limit that has been given..."

At that, Shun had to speak up. "That's ridiculous!" he said. "There's no way we'd be able to make it back in that amount of time! Right now we have less than 5 hours! And we don't even know where we are, so how the hell can we find someone to come rescue you?!"

Kyoya raised an eyebrow. "Then, perhaps you'd prefer to stay in my stead?" he asked. "Or maybe you'd be willing to leave Kusuo behind?"

Shun's eyes widened, and he jolted back. The strange thing was, Kyoya's voice didn't hold any cruelty or malice - he said those things as if he'd been stating the weather. Shun couldn't offer a response.

"You see?" Kyoya said, when Shun didn't reply. "There's no other choice here. So it seems we've come to our conclusion. Go on, then. Don't worry about me."

Shun stood frozen. Kusuo was biting his lip so hard that Shun almost expected him to break the skin any minute. Kusuke leaned against one of the bedposts, calm as could be. And Riki had pulled off his baseball cap, and was nervously playing with it in his hands. Kaoru was staring at Kyoya, with an expression that Shun couldn't decipher.

Kokomi, meanwhile, was as chipper as ever. "Well, it's rude to turn down such a kind gift, everyone," she said. She beamed up at Kyoya, eyes shining. Kyoya met her gaze with a smile of his own.

"I think this is the best for me, anyway," he said. "Perhaps I can take a nap or something. It may just be my age, but I get tired so easily nowadays." As he was speaking, he began lowering himself down to one of the beds.

From somewhere deep in the ship, Shun heard the sound of metal squeaking. It reminded him of when he'd first woken up in his room. It sounded as though the ship were falling apart. He had to wonder if it would really hold up for five more hours, let alone any longer than that.

In the silence of the room, the only sound that could be heard was the sad wailing of the metal.

Finally, Kokomi spoke.

"What are we waiting for? We're wasting time, guys. We need to get moving."

Riki sighed. "Yeah, you're right. That's all we can do right now."

"Riki..." Kusuo whispered, looking up at the large man with pain in his eyes. 

"Honestly," Kusuke said, "I was getting tired of everyone talking while our lives are on the line."

"You too, Kusuke?" Kusuo said, appalled.

"I... I have to find Hikaru. I have to," Kaoru whispered.

"Wait, all of you!" Kusuo said quickly. "We just need to calm down! Let's think about this, okay? There has to be a way to get everyone out, right? There has to be!" He looked to Shun. "Right, Shine?! You agree with me, right?!"

Shun cleared his throat. "Y-yeah," he said, half-heartedly, "let's think. There's gotta be... Another way..."

His words sounded hollow and fake. Kusuo obviously could tell. "Fine!" he spat, glaring at Shun with betrayal in his eyes. "I'll figure it out on my own, then!"

He spun around, rushing towards Kyoya, who had already curled up on one of the hospital beds. Kusuo grabbed on to his left arm, and tugged. "Kyoya! Come on, get up! You can't just give up! We just have to think together! We'll figure out a way for all of us to get out!"

Then, Kusuo succeeded in getting Kyoya off of the bed...

And instead, got him to fall face-forward onto the floor.

"Kyoya!" Kusuo cried. He dropped to his knees beside him, then wrapped his arms around Kyoya's neck and attempted to lift him up. "What happened?! Kyoya! Say something!"

As Kusuo frantically shook the older man, Kyoya's eyes slowly opened. "I'm alright," he said, voice slurred as though he'd been drinking.

"How can you be... Alright?" Kusuo asked.

Without a verbal response, Kyoya held out his left hand towards Kusuo, and showed him a syringe, and a small vial that he was holding.

The vial was empty. The label read 'Soporil Beta'.

"What does this do?" Kusuo demanded of Kyoya. "You didn't use this on yourself, did you?!"

"I did," Kyoya said. "It's only... An anesthetic, though. I'll be... Just fine..."

"Anesthetic?" Kusuo repeated the word with horror.

"I found it earlier," Kyoya said. It was clear that he was fighting to stay conscious at this point. "While searching the... Hospital rooms. Thought it would... Be useful..."

"Why did you do this?" Kusuo asked.

"I told you," Kyoya answered. "I... I'm going to take a nap..." He slumped a little. "I'm... So tired..."

But of course, Shun knew that wasn't why Kyoya had done it. That was a nonsensical reason, at best.

He'd done it so that Kusuo wouldn't keep insisting to bring him along. If he was unconscious, if he couldn't move, then he couldn't come. Simple as that.

"Kyoya..." Kusuo whispered.

"Hm?" Kyoya groggily lifted his head, blinking blearily at Kusuo. "Is there... Something else?" he asked. "I just... Want to sleep. Can you... Keep it down?"

"No! Kyoya, no, don't fall asleep!" Kusuo begged. But his words fell on deaf, tired ears.

"You're so warm, Kusuo," Kyoya mumbled, slumping further against Kusuo. Slowly, his eyelids drooped more and more, slowly, as though he were dying. Then, they were shut completely.

"Kyoya! Kyoya!" Kusuo desperately shook at Kyoya's shoulder, but the man was out like a light. He didn't respond this time.

The only way to tell that he was even alive was the gentle rise and fall of his chest. Shun was relieved that was still breathing, and hadn't injected himself with poison rather than an anesthetic. "We should get him back on that bed," he said softly, already walking over to Kusuo. He aided Kusuo as much as he could in lifting the man, though to be honest physical strength had never been his strong suit.

When Shun and Kusuo turned back to the rest of the group, Kokomi gave them a look of pity. "I suppose we _really_ don't have any choice now, do we?" she said. "We can't let this sacrifice go to waste, either... Right?"

"Like you mean that," Shun mumbled.

"You say something?" Kokomi asked, shooting a glare at him.

Quickly, Shun put his hands up. "No. Nothing."

It felt wrong, of course. But he had to agree with her.

Then, suddenly, Kusuke spoke.

"We aren't done choosing yet, unfortunately. We all have to pick our doors, don't we?"

Kokomi nodded in agreement. "We do. I want door 8. It's the same as my bracelet number."

"Alright," Kusuke said. "What about you, Riki?"

Riki hummed. "I'll take door 7. Same reason as Kokomi."

Kusuke hummed. "Alright, who's next..." He ran his eyes over the 3 others left, then met the eyes of Shun. "Alright, which door do you want, Shun?"

Shun pursed his lips, considering his options, then said, "I think I'm gonna go with door 8," he said.

"Alright," Kusuke said, "then that means Kusuo's going through door 7."

"What?!" Kusuo said. "Who asked you to make up my mind for me?!"

Kusuke sighed, shaking his head. "If we're going to keep going without leaving anyone behind," he said, "there are only 3 ways for us to do it. There's Plan A, where me, Shun and Kokomi go through 7, and Kaoru, Kusuo and Riki go through 8." He paused, waiting for everyone to nod in understanding, then he continued. "Plan B, Kaoru, Shun and Riki go through 7, and me, Kusuo and Kokomi go through 8. Then, Plan C, which is what we ended up with, where me, Kusuo and Riki go through door 7, while Kaoru, Shun and Kokomi go through door 8." He crossed his arms. "There are no other combinations that end in us all going through a door."

As Kusuke finished his explanation, Kusuo looked at Shun with wide, glassy eyes. "So... We won't see each other again for a long time."

Shun shared what Kusuo appeared to be thinking. He wanted to be at his side through the coming trials. But if they had to survive, he'd have to swallow those feelings - for the time being, at least. So he met Kusuo's gaze, and forced a smile onto his face. "C'mon, now. Don't make it sound like it's gonna be forever. Yeah, we're splitting up, but only for a little bit. It's just like the 4 and 5 doors, right? All of us split up, then, too, but we all ended up back together again. I bet 7 and 8 are just like that."

"So..." Kusuo took in a shaky breath. "You think they're connected somewhere, right?"

"Yeah," Shun said. "I mean... Probably."

Kusuo frowned at that. " _Probably?_ " He obviously wasn't in a very optimistic mood at the moment.

Riki was the one to speak up, then. "I'm sure they'll connect somewhere."

"Why?" Kusuo asked sharply. "What makes you so sure of that?"

"Well," Riki said, "if they don't, neither team can get through door 9, right? In that case, the game would end right here. Zero wants the game to go on for as long as possible, and I doubt he'd blow that by making an oversight like that."

Kusuo didn't respond. His tears were gone, but his eyes were still sad as he looked over to Shun. Shun met his gaze, and with whatever amount of reassurance he could muster, he brought his hand to rest on his shoulder.

"Everything will be fine. I promise we'll see each other again."

Kusuo hesitated, then gave a slight nod.

Kusuke broke the moment. "Alright, if you guys are done... The teams are set up, pretty much. Kaoru can take 8, and I'll take 7, because of how the rest of you guys chose your doors. Any problem with that, Kaoru?"

Kaoru looked away, silent. After a few seconds, he mumbled, "No."

Kusuke nodded. "Then it's settled. Let's move."

At that command, the groups split, and headed for their separate doors.


	14. Chapter 14

One by one, Kokomi, Kaoru and Shun placed their hands on the RED in front of door 8, a beep following each one. Kokomi was the one to pull the lever, and the three of them watched the door slide open. A narrow hallway stretched out before them. Kokomi, Kaoru and Shun all leapt through the door, and their bracelets began to beep when they did.

The detonators had been activated.

The door slammed shut behind them. "81 seconds left!" Kokomi shouted. "Hurry!" The three of them ran towards the DEAD. One by one, they placed their hands on the DEAD, and then Shun pulled the lever down.

All at once, the beeping on their bracelets stopped. Kokomi and Shun both sighed in relief, but Kaoru was aloof.

"Pointless," he muttered. Then he began to walk down the narrow hallway, leaving a confused Kokomi and Shun in his wake. Kokomi watched him go, brows furrowed and lips pursed slightly.

Then, she sighed. "How unpleasant," she muttered. "Bet he has a hard time finding a date." The sarcasm, in this situation, was unwarranted, but she didn't seem to care. She simply went after the younger male at a leisurely pace.

Shun sighed. "Maybe putting these two together was a mistake," he mumbled. Then he went after Kaoru and Kokomi, not willing to leave them alone for too long.

The hallway was a winding one, making several turns before it finally came to an end. "A dead end," Kokomi noted dully.

"There's a door on the left," Shun pointed out, walking over to it. While his observation was true, there didn't appear to be any handles or knobs on it. The three of them stood in front of it, examining it.

There was a plaque at the top of the door, a golden one that was engraved with the word 'Laboratory'. "That doesn't sound... Pleasant," Kokomi said with a frown. "I don't like this..."

"Me either," Shun admitted. "But we don't have any other choices. We didn't pass any other doors on the way over here."

Kokomi hummed. "Shun?" she said. "You can go first."

Shun glared at her. He could tell that the so-called 'politeness' was a cover for something else. However, Shun didn't want to stand there and argue, so he nodded in agreement. He stepped up to the door, and pushed lightly at the iron door. It gave way easily, and he stepped into the room. He moved slowly, carefully.

But he found, as he looked around the room, that there was no danger for him to be wary of. Kokomi followed after him, and Kaoru went in after her.

The room they ended up in was divided into two, separated by a large, curved wall with a thick glass window in the middle. "Why's this window here?" Shun asked, walking up to it.

"Must be for monitoring something," Kokomi said. "Something... Too dangerous for people to get close to. You know?"

Shun, however, was focused on what he could see through the window. In the center of the other room, which was shaped like a quarter-circle, a mannequin was laying on an exam table. Kokomi walked over when he didn't respond, and also looked in. She shuddered, and said, "Ugh. Creepy."

"It's like the doll is going to go through surgery," Shun said softly.

Kokomi shook her head. "This is a laboratory. It's more like it's going to get experimented on."

Shun felt nauseous at the very thought. He shuddered, and looked away from the window.

"It's creepy either way, though," Kokomi admitted. "It's like it's going to suddenly... Just, sit up or something."

Shun looked back at the window once his stomach settled down, and swallowed thickly. He could definitely see where Kokomi was coming from. "Well, I mean, look at those cables sticking out of its head. Imagine what could happen if we pressed the wrong button or-"

"Stop it," Kokomi demanded, backing up from the window. "Just thinking about that gives me the creeps."

It was then that Shun realized there was someone missing from their conversation. "Wait, where's Kaoru?" He looked around, and saw that he was still standing near the entrance of the room. His face, though it appeared calm, somehow seemed sad at the same time.

It was... Sort of pitiful.

Shun walked over to him, and spoke gently. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Kaoru looked away. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Shun hesitated. "I... I'm just worried about you," he said. "You've been really quiet, so..."

"I can't be quiet if I want to?" Kaoru snapped.

"Of course you can, I just-"

"Good. If I can be quiet if I want, then leave me alone."

Shun frowned. This wasn't a good road for Kaoru to be going down. "I can't do that," he said softly. "We... We have to work together."

Kaoru whipped his head around, glaring menacingly at Shun. "You just don't get it!" he said, voice near shouting level. Shun stumbled backwards in shock. "My brother isn't the type of person who'd just up and leave me behind! Something's  _happened_ to him!" His voice broke, and Kaoru ducked his head. "Something... Something bad..."

Shun could find no response.

Kokomi, meanwhile, had been jolted from her nightmares of the living mannequin when Kaoru spoke. She turned towards them. "What happened?" she asked, tilting her head slightly.

Kaoru tilted his head up, just enough to look at Shun and Kokomi. He slid his gaze from one, then to the other, then back to the floor. "Just don't bother me, okay? Leave me alone."

With that, Kaoru began to walk away. "Wait, Kaoru!" Shun shouted. "Not that way-!"

"I told you to leave me alone!" came Kaoru's sharp response. And without slowing down, he continued towards a sort of break in the wall, heading into the other room. And he passed through the doorway...

"Kaoru, look out!" Kokomi shouted.

And down slid a large gate, separating the three and sealing Kaoru in the other room.

Kaoru spun around with wide eyes, looking at the gate. "What the...?! What's going on?!" He grabbed onto the iron bars and shook as hard as he could, the hood of his peach-colored hoodie falling down from his head as he did so.

"I'll try to get it open!" Shun said quickly.

"You'll never do that on your own!" Kokomi snapped, immediately rushing over to the gate with Shun. Together, they grabbed onto the bars of the gate, and pulled.

The three of them did their best, but the gate wouldn't budge. Eventually, Shun let out a loud curse, and brought his hands back to his chest. "Are you gonna give up?!" Kaoru cried. "Just like that?!"

"Of course not," Shun quickly said, holding out a hand in a placating motion. "I think this is another puzzle from Zero."

"If that's the case, there's a way to open it," Kokomi said, pulling her own hands back to her chest.

Shun nodded in agreement. "All we have to do is find it," he said. "Kokomi and I will look in here. Kaoru, you search in there. Okay?"

"Got it," Kaoru said, giving a firm nod.

And with that, they began the search.


	15. Chapter 15

Shun went to a large group of small lockers against the wall. 9 of the lockers were square, with green lights on the locks. The other 9 were rectangles, with red lights on their locks. He attempted to open one of the rectangular lockers, but it wouldn't budge. So he went to one of the square ones instead - the one in the center, to be precise - and it popped right open.

"Ethanol?" Kokomi said, pulling out the small bottle to look at it. She examined it, then said, "Ah, it's anhydrous ethanol."

"So it can be used to clean stuff up, right?" Shun asked.

"You know your stuff," she replied. "Yeah. It can even be used to clean permanent marker."

Shun gave a slight nod in understanding, hoping that would come in handy. Zero did everything in such a precise way, it had to. Eventually.

Shun then walked over to a large, old-school computer-like console. There was a small shelf next to it with a box of all sorts of things on it. "Any of these look useful?" he asked Kokomi.

"I know at least one of them is," she replied. "The thing on the top. It's a power cable."

Shun made a soft noise of understanding, and plucked the power cable from the box. He glanced over to the more sleek, modern computer on the other side of the room. Or, well, the computer monitor, anyway. He couldn't see an actual PC. But he walked over anyway, examining it. It appeared that one end of the cord would fit in the computer monitor, but the only outlet that he could see only had 2 slots. The cord had 3 prongs.

He sighed, and walked away. He headed for the window, and called out to Kaoru, "See anything that could help us, Kaoru?!"

Kaoru was looking at a sort of table next to the mannequin. "Part of this table is all black!" he shouted. "I think it's marker! There's one laying right here!"

"It's probably hiding something important, then," Shun said. "Can you clean it off?"

Kaoru moved, picking up the marker that was laying down. After a moment, Shun saw him shake his head. "It's permanent marker!"

Shun pursed his lips. "Permanent marker, huh?" he whispered. He turned to Kokomi. "Hey, give me that ethanol!"

Kokomi blinked, then shrugged and handed over the bottle. Shun went over to the bars, and reached through, holding out the bottle of ethanol. "Kaoru! Take this, you can use it to wipe up the marker!"

"Oh! Okay!" Kaoru rushed up and took the bottle. "What should I wipe with?"

"Um... How important is that hoodie to you?" Shun asked.

The glare Kaoru gave in response spoke volumes.

"Okay, okay. Just a suggestion," Shun said quickly.

Kaoru frowned, looking down at his hoodie. Then he sighed, and walked back down to the table. Shun approached the window to watch. As he did, he spotted some cloth on the table. "Ah! Kaoru! Use that cloth there!"

Kaoru's eyes lit up, and he picked it up. He soaked the cloth in ethanol, and Shun watched as he got to work wiping away the permanent ink. As he did so, Shun could see a sort of drawing being revealed from underneath the ink. However, he couldn't see from where he stood.

"Kaoru, do you still have the paper and pen from the room you woke up in?" Shun asked. "I need you to copy that drawing onto paper and hand it to me."

"Okay, got it!" Kaoru replied. Shun watched Kaoru pull the folded pieces of paper and pen out from a pocket in his hoodie, and begin to scribble something down. Shun went back to the bars, and waited for him to finish.

While he waited, he considered what a relief it was to have Kaoru being more full of life than he had been previously. He knew it was likely temporary, but it was a relief nonetheless.

Then Kaoru was there, holding out a piece of paper with some numbers in a grid on it. Shun took the paper with a short nod and gentle smile. Then, something occurred to him. He went over to the window once more, and looked through. "Kaoru, can you look at the power cables over there?"

Kaoru looked at him in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Does the plug have 3 prongs or 2?"

Kaoru hummed, and went to examine the small machine behind the mannequin's table. He knelt down, looking at the power cable. "It... It has 2 prongs!"

"Perfect! Can you bring it to me?"

"Well..." Kaoru hesitated. "I can unplug it, sure, but it's connected to this machine. I can't bring it to you."

"Damn," Shun whispered. He'd have to think of something else, then.

"Wait, how about just the plug?"

Shun perked up. "What?"

"Well, not the plug. The... Connector, I guess. It has an adapter to make a 3-pronged plug a 2-pronged plug."

"Yes!" Shun shouted. "Yes, Kaoru, that's perfect!"

Kaoru knelt back down, then, and took the adapter from the plug. Then he brought it over to Shun at the bars. Shun put the adapter onto his 3-pronged plug, then rushed over to the computer monitor. He plugged in the computer.

"Not that that'll do anything," he mumbled. "There's no main computer here, see?"

"You don't know it won't do anything, though. Press the button and see."

Shun only stared at her in confusion. So, Kokomi sighed, and leaned over to press the power button on the monitor herself.

True to Kokomi's word, the screen lit up.

"It... It worked," Shun said, gawking at the screen, where streams of code that he couldn't understand began flooding. While he had been shocked for it to turn on, he was even more shocked by this.

"It's... It's running on its own?"

"Well, it looks that way," Kokomi said with a shrug.

"Isn't that kind of weird?" Shun asked, backing away from the computer as though it were possessed.

Bewildered, Kokomi looked at Shun. "What? What do you mean?"

"It's... It's not connected to any sort of main computer. There's only a keyboard, a mouse, the cable we plugged in, and a monitor... So how's it running?"

Kokomi rolled her eyes. "Haven't you ever heard of a wireless display, Shun?"

Clearly, this explanation was a reasonable one to Kokomi. But not Shun, who simply stared at Kokomi as though she'd grown another head. "A wireless display?"

"Yes. A display that connects to a computer wirelessly. Hence the name. Wireless display." She eyed Shun with something sort of like disgust. "Have you been living in a cave or something?"

Shun hadn't, not really, but he'd still never heard of a wireless display. "Is this... Normal?"

"Well, where I worked, yes," Kokomi responded easily.

Shun blinked. "Where-"

"Oh, it stopped," Kokomi said, cutting Shun off. Shun turned and saw that, indeed, the computer was simply showing 'PASS:'.

"Looks like we need to enter a password," Kokomi said.

"Oh, well, I'm sure there's a hint around here somewhere."

"Go take a look, then." Kokomi grabbed a chair, dragging it over to the computer and taking a seat.

"Uh, what are you going to do?" Shun asked.

"I'll try to do something about this on my own," she responded.

Shun blinked in confusion. He watched as she stretched her arms above her head, then lowered her hands to the keyboard... "Let's kick some ass," she whispered.

And before Shun could even blink, she began typing at a frantic speed, not even glancing down at the keyboard. Shun couldn't even keep track of where her fingers were going.

"Uh... W-what?!"

Kokomi smirked slightly, and glanced at Shun from the corner of her eye, still type-type-typing away. "Didn't expect this, did you?"

"Of course not!" Shun said. "What the hell?! How are you typing so fast?! What kind of job do you have?! What  _are_ you?!"

"Unemployed at the moment," Kokomi responded easily, looking back at the screen. "I used to work for a cyber-security firm, though. I quit a while ago."

"...Why?" Shun asked.

Kokomi blinked. Her typing ceased for a moment - a brief moment - as she seemed to fight over how to respond. Then, she said, "A reason. Just... Something."

"I... See," Shun whispered. It was clear that the subject wasn't one she wished to discuss. So he stayed quiet.

Once she could tell that Shun was done with his questioning, Kokomi went back to her rapid-fire typing. The more she typed, the more symbols that meant nothing to Shun's eyes flowed on the screen. "So, uh," he said, "what are you doing now?"

"Trying to brute-force it."

"Brute... Huh?"

"A brute-force attack... The short version is that I'm attacking the thing head-on," she replied. "The long version..." She hummed, considering how to explain - not once slowing down in her typing. "It's just the simplest way to break a cipher. It checks every combination until it finds the right one. But for particularly complex ciphers, it can take a long time - so I'm writing a program that will do it for me. Not exactly elegant, but in this situation I think it's the best solution."

Even while she talked, Kokomi's fingers never slipped or missed a key. Shun was in awe at the sight. "But back to what we were talking about," Kokomi said, getting his attention.

"Uh... Which was?"

"The wireless display," she replied. "Kind of strange, if you think about it." She glanced at Shun, and saw his confused expression. She sighed, and looked back at the monitor. "How should I put it?"

Eventually, she said, "Let's say you write a program that calculates an addition problem. And you enter 1 + 1. The screen will show you 2, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Isn't it strange?"

Shun blinked. "Um... N-no, not really?"

"Oh, come on," Kokomi said. "Of course a cave man like you would think it strange. You said so just a minute ago."

"Wh- Yeah, about the-!"

"You're not getting it," Kokomi said with a sigh. " _Who_ calculated 1 + 1?"

Shun blinked. "The... The main computer, right?"

Kokomi nodded. "Right, but someone who grew up in a cave wouldn't know that, right?"

"You're not gonna let that go, are you?" Shun whispered, but Kokomi seemed to ignore it.

"They'd probably think that the monitor is doing the calculating," she continued. "And once they've decided that, they'll start examining the monitor. They might poke the screen like this..." She paused in her typing to lift a hand and poke at the screen. "Ah," she said in her best 'cave woman' impersonation, "see how the color changes when I press it here?" Then she went back to typing, continuing her explanation, "Then they'd investigate the hardware on the inside. Eventually, they might take some of the stuff out of it or cut the wires. Because of that, nothing would appear on the screen anymore. So they'd think they were correct in assuming it was the monitor doing the calculations."

"I see," Shun said slowly, not really able to make sense of these ramblings.

"But see, you and I know the truth. It's the main computer doing the calculations. But the cave people wouldn't know this, because they have no idea about wireless monitors or that the monitor and computer are connected wirelessly."

A brief silence fell between them. Eventually, Shun spoke again. "So," he said, "what are you trying to say?"

"Nothing," Kokomi said. Then she sighed, and said, "Well... I was thinking, maybe..."

"Yeah?" Shun pressed.

"What if the relationship between human beings... And our brains is like that?"

Shun blinked. "Uh... What?"

"Well, say you stick a bunch of electrodes into parts of a brain. The scientist looking at the signals they send out might say something like, 'Ah, interesting. Stimulating this part of the brain causes the person to see colors. That means that this neuron cluster controls that function.' Then they cut out the part, and say, 'Just as I thought! Cutting out this part causes the function to cease! Therefore human thought processes must occur within the human brain!' Doesn't it sound just the same as the cave person with the wireless computer monitor?"

Shun simply stared.

"Maybe human brains are like the monitor," Kokomi mused, undeterred. "Maybe our thought processes actually occur somewhere else, in a... Main body, so to speak. But we don't know it. We don't even think about it. And just like the cave people wouldn't know about wireless communications, we can't imagine some unknown medium out there, transferring information into our brains, where we experience the information as thoughts."

Still, Shun was silent. It wasn't so much because he couldn't think of anything to say, but because her argument seemed rather... Silly. Especially coming from someone like her.

_The brain is just... An output device?_ he thought.  _Human thought occurs somewhere else?_

"Heh, that's just crazy talk," he eventually mumbled.

He sincerely hoped that Kokomi didn't genuinely believe this. It sounded too much like something a cult would believe.

"Maybe that's the cause of Riki's amnesia," Kokomi said, getting Shun's attention again.

"Huh?"

Kokomi shrugged, still typing. "If memory and thoughts are stored elsewhere, somewhere other than the brain, then maybe Riki hasn't 'forgotten' anything at all. He just can't access those memories because the monitor - his brain - has been damaged. It would explain the reason he can remember his name, but nothing else." She hummed. "Perhaps that would explain aphasia and blindsight, too. Maybe they can speak or see, but the monitor isn't functioning properly." She pursed her lips. "Perhaps it could also apply to people with prosopagnosia..."

Shun blinked. "Wait," he said quickly. "What's prosopagnosia?" he asked. Aphasia and blindsight were easy enough to figure out, due to context clues, but she hadn't at all explained prosopagnosia.

"Never heard of it?" Kokomi asked. When Shun just shook his head, she sighed. "Put in simple terms, it's a condition where the mind is unable to distinguish between human faces. So, my face would look the same as, say, Kaoru's, or yours. So they can't recognize faces, which is how most people recognize each other. This means that people with prosopagnosia have trouble recognizing even the people they're closest to. They make do, though, by associating people with other things - you know, clothes, voices or hair." She paused. "It's usually a side effect of severe autism, but chronic prosopagnosia is a thing, too."

Shun considered that. "So, then, do other people's faces just look like... Blanks?"

Kokomi hummed at that. "No... No, I don't think so," she said. "You've seen monkeys, right? Like, in a zoo? To you and me, all the monkey faces look the same. Even though they obviously have faces, it's almost impossible for humans to distinguish between them. The zoo staff could do it, eventually. But you and I couldn't do it unless one had a scar, or something else, to set it apart from the others. Even then, we'd only be able to tell one monkey apart from the group. That's what other people are like to someone with prosopagnosia."

Shun frowned. "Wow. I didn't even know that sort of thing existed." He did his best to act as though he'd understood at least some part of her lecture. "And, um... How'd we get on that subject again? What were we talking about?"

"The idea that your brain is just an output device, like a computer monitor," Kokomi replied easily.

"Right, right," Shun said. "And, uh... Are you serious about that stuff?"

"Nah," Kokomi replied. "I was kidding around for about half of it."

"And... The other half?"

Kokomi didn't even miss a beat. "I guess I was adulting around?"

Shun stared at Kokomi, who didn't even smirk. Finally, he sighed. "Not funny."

Kokomi gave a soft giggle, her smile having some sort of masochistic hint to it. "It was just a story I made up out of boredom. Don't take it seriously. It was the first thing that came to mind that I could talk about to kill time." She smirked, then, and her supernatural-speed typing came to a halt. "But I don't need to talk anymore."

Shun blinked, confused as to why she'd stopped. "Why?"

"Because I don't need to kill anymore time."

With that, she dramatically raised her hand, and pressed her index finger down on the Enter key.

"Oh!" Shun said, eyes lighting up. "You finished the brute-force thing!"

"I sure did. So let's see what we've got."

Chunks of random text flickered on and off the screen in quick succession, and then, suddenly, a line of numbers appeared, then vanished. And all that came up after that was the phrase 'Password accepted'.

Kokomi beamed. "Easy as pie," she chirped.

After a few seconds, the words disappeared, and were replaced by 9 squares in a 3-by-3 grid. 3 on the bottom left corner were green, but all the others were a dull red color.

"Uh," Shun said, "what's that?"

"Looks like a puzzle," Kokomi said with a shrug. She tapped the keys on the keyboard but nothing happened. "I can't write another program to do it, either. Looks like you're up, Shun."

Shun nodded. Kokomi stood up from the chair, and sat down in her place. He remembered the drawing Kaoru had given him, and pulled it out, comparing it to the grid.

"Looks like I just click them in this order," he muttered. He clicked the bottom right square, then the top right, then the top left, and then the center.

Once he'd done that, all 9 of the squares turned green. A click was heard, just to their left. Shun leapt to his feet, and went to the lockers. The ones that had previously had red lights locks now had green lights. He went to open each one in turn. The only one that had anything was the center one, and it had 2 keys. One was a small one, that likely went to some sort of machine, while the other...

It had the Earth symbol on it!

"This key matches the door on A Deck, right?" Shun said, looking to Kokomi, who nodded in confirmation. "We probably don't need it right now, then." And with that, he tucked the key into his pocket, holding on to the other key.

Then, he heard Kaoru speak up behind them. "Shun? Do you have a second?"

Shun walked over to Kaoru, who was standing at the gate, looking as though he were lapsing back into his depressed, sad self.

"What's up?" Shun asked.

Kaoru hesitated. "I wanted... I wanted to ask you something." Shun nodded, and Kaoru sighed. "You... You went into door 5 with my brother, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Did he... Say anything weird?"

Shun blinked. For a moment, he thought to wonder why Kaoru would ask this. But after a moment of thought, it made sense.

Hikaru had been gone for a long time. And Kaoru was obviously quite attached to him - of course he'd be worried. "L-let me think," he said, considering everything that'd been said between them between going into door 5 and finding the hospital room.

Unfortunately, he came up empty. "I'm sorry, I can't think of anything 'weird'. I mean, he said his hearing is good enough to help him navigate, but, other than that..."

Kaoru gave a slight nod. "Okay... Thanks," he said softly. And he turned to walk away.

Before he could, though, Shun spoke up. "Um, Kaoru?"

Kaoru looked up. "Yeah?"

Shun shifted nervously. "I don't really know if this is okay to ask, but... If you don't mind, I was wondering if you could tell me about your brother's, um... Like, was he born..."

"You mean his eyes, right?" Kaoru asked softly.

Shun nodded. Kaoru hesitated, as though unsure of whether or not his brother would want him talking about this. But eventually, he sighed, and spoke softly, "He wasn't born blind... When we were little, we got in a car accident. A really bad one." He swallowed thickly. "I was fine, somehow, other than a broken leg, but that healed. Hikaru... He couldn't see after that. He had too much brain trauma. And... And his arm..."

"His arm?"

Kaoru bit his lip. "It's... It's not like your arm, or my arm," he said. "It's prosthetic. It's not real. The accident, it... It hurt him so bad that they had to cut his arm off to save him."

Shun didn't know what to say after hearing that. He stood there, staring at Kaoru in shock. Finally, Kaoru broke the silence. "Was that all you wanted?"

Talking about his brother had taken a great deal out of Kaoru. He looked exhausted, like he just wanted to lay down and sleep.

"Yeah. Sorry. I... I didn't mean to drag up painful memories," Shun said softly.

"It's not that," Kaoru said, not meeting Shun's gaze. And before Shun could ask what it was, Kaoru turned and walked away from the gate.

Shun hesitated, then sighed and went back to trying to solve the puzzle. He walked over to the large, outdated computer console, and examined it. Eventually, he saw a sort of slot for a key - like the one he'd already found. He put in the key, and turned it to the right.

The tiny monitor turned on, emitting a bright green glow. It showed a sort of warning. "'Power restored to experimental device'," Kokomi read, a confused frown on her face. "'Emergency systems will activate in event of unusual subject behavior'." She blinked. "Okay..."

"Shun!" Kaoru shouted. Shun and Kokomi immediately ran to the window, looking into the room. "This thing here, with the knobs on the wall! It turned on!"

"Ah, so that's what that did," Shun said.

"Try playing with it," Kokomi suggested. "Mess around with the knobs!"

Kaoru nodded. "Right, okay, I'll just turn this dial..." Kokomi and Shun watched him turn the dial, but nothing happened.

Shun and Kokomi hummed. "Try increasing the voltage!" Shun suggested.

"What? No, that's dangerous," Kokomi pointed out.

But Kaoru was already doing it, turning the knob all the way to max voltage. Shun could hear the machine begin to hum violently. He saw the sparks fly off of the wires coming out of the mannequin's head, just before said mannequin caught fire. An alarm - a fire alarm, Shun realized - began going off.

"Fire detected! Fire detected! Emergency systems will now be activated!" said a robotic, female voice. And then a click was heard.

Shun scrambled over to a door, on the opposite side of the room as the gate. He saw that a lock, previously with a red light, was now lit up green. He opened the door, and Kaoru came rushing out of the rapidly smoking room. Shun immediately shut the door behind him.

"Kaoru, are you okay?" he asked, looking the redhead over for any burns. "Not hurt, right?"

Kaoru gave a few coughs, then said in a raspy voice, "Of course I'm not alright! I almost caught on fire, you big jerk!"

"I told you not to increase the voltage," Kokomi said with a sigh.

"Let's just get out of here," Shun said with a sigh. "That fire won't stay contained forever, you know."

So, Shun pushed open the door right next to the one Kaoru had come out of, and together they all exited the laboratory.


	16. Chapter 16

As the three of them made it out of the room, Shun slammed the door shut behind them. All of them collapsed to the floor with a sigh of relief. "Thank god," Kokomi said.

"Speak for yourself," Kaoru said, then gave a cough. "I was the one who almost caught on fire!"

Shun was silent, other than his heavy panting. He could feel, and hear, how hard and fast his heart was beating. He almost expected it to pop right out of his chest any moment now. But, with each breath he took of the clear, smoke-less air, he could feel it beginning to slow down.

Once they were all calm, or as calm as they could be, Shun moved to stand up. "Alright," he said, "let's go."

Kaoru bit his lip, then said, "Yeah," in a weak voice. He and Kokomi both stood, and the two of them followed Shun down the hallway they had ended up in.

It didn't take long for them to find a few new doors - but all of them ended up being locked.

"Damn it, Zero," Kokomi cursed. "Is it that hard to put in a few unlocked doors?"

"What about that one? Down there?" Shun suggested, pointing down the end of the hallway. The door he indicated sat at the corner of a turn - one that happened to go right. The three of them, with nothing to lose, headed down towards it.

Shun had just grabbed on to the handle, ready to try and yank it open, when a voice cried out behind him. It wasn't Kokomi, nor was it Kaoru. But he still recognized it.

"Shine!"

Sure enough, when Shun spun around, he saw 3 people running towards him from the end of the hallway. And one of them was... "Kusuo!" he shouted, eyes lighting up.

At Kusuo's side were, of course, Kusuke and Riki - Kusuo's partners in going through the 7 door. When the trio got to Shun, Kokomi and Kaoru, Kusuke spoke, "What the hell are you guys doing here?!"

Shun blinked at the accusatory tone. "We... What..." He couldn't manage to string together a sentence to defend his group.

Luckily for him, Kaoru spoke, getting everyone's attention. "Guys! Come look at this!"

Everyone turned, seeing Kaoru just down the hallway that was to the right of the door. Everyone walked down, wondering what he had found. When they stopped near him, they saw a... Picture on the wall. Though calling it a picture would be somewhat inaccurate.

"A map of the ship..." Shun whispered, looking up at it. "It says C Deck, so... It's the map for this floor."

"Yeah. Look, I think this is the hospital room, and these are the doors we went through," Kaoru said, pointing at each part he referred to. "See, all the doors, even door 3, eventually just end up at this hallway!"

"Well, yeah," Riki said, as if that would be obvious. Everyone looked at him. "Think about it. We can't get through door 9 if we all end up separated permanently. So yeah, we might go through separate doors, but we'll all see each other again until we get to door 9."

Shun looked at the map, and his eyes widened. "Wait a second, that door down there leads..."

One by one, everyone else realized what he just had. Each of them reacted somewhat differently than he'd expected, though. Kusuo looked utterly relieved, true, but the others...

"You've gotta be kidding me," Kusuke said, looking as though the whole ordeal had been tiresome for him.

"We may as well go," Kokomi said with a sigh.

"Yeah..." Kaoru agreed, eyeing the map.

As one, the group moved towards the door Shun had been ready to open just a minute ago. Shun paused, then grabbed the map down from the wall, before following the group.

Then, the 6 of them stood in front of the door in a semi-circle, staring at it. Eventually, Kusuke was the one to step forward. He opened the door with no preamble, and all of them rushed through.

And even without looking around the area, they all already knew where they were.

"I knew it," Shun said, a light smirk tugging at his lips. They had ended up just where the map had said they would...

"We're back," he called out to a slowly waking Kyoya, who was just beginning to blink the sleep from his eyes. Kyoya looked at them with something like confusion when he noticed their presence.

Quickly, all 6 of them explained what had happened to them. He moved from laying on the bed to standing up properly, staring at the group throughout the entire report. Once he was up to speed, he nodded in understanding. "I see. So 3 of you went through door 7 and went into the operating room, while the other 3 went into door 8 and ended up in the laboratory. When you got out of the rooms, you ended up in the same hallway, which led you back here. Correct?"

It was clear that his mind was working as well as it had before, despite just coming out of a deep sleep. He gave a sigh. "Well, that makes me feel rather silly for my little show of altruism earlier," he commented lightheartedly. "I did think you would come back for me... But not so soon."

"Hey, we ain't dead! I think that counts as a win, in my opinion," Riki said, adjusting his baseball cap with a smirk. "Anyway, I think we need to get out of this creepy old place. Yeah? Me, Kusuke and Kusuo all found one of the keys we need."

"Which one?" Shun asked.

"The Jupiter key," Riki replied. Then he tossed the small key towards Shun, who barely caught it. Shun looked at the symbol on the key, finding that if he held the key upside down, the symbol looked a bit like a 4.

"So, this is Jupiter?" he asked to make sure, looking to Kusuo for clarification. Kusuo gave a nod in reply.

"You can hold onto that, okay?" Riki said.

"Oh, okay," Shun said.

"Oh, in that case, I've got something for you, too," Kokomi said. She pulled out a card, and passed it over to Shun. "It's the Saturn key card. Me, Kaoru, Kyoya, Kusuke and Kusuo found it when we went through door 4. It was in the kitchen."

Shun accepted the card, looking over it. Half of the card was blue, and the other half was black, and it had a white Saturn symbol on it.

"How many unused keys does that make?" Riki asked.

"Well, there's the Earth key from the laboratory, the Jupiter key you gave me, and the Saturn key card from Kokomi. That's 3. I'll keep them safe." He tucked the new keys into his pocket.

Kusuo spoke up, "The Jupiter key is for that door at the end of the hallway with all those doors, right?"

"That's right," Shun said. "If the map's right, it should connect us to the central staircase. Then, next to the stairs-"

"Wait," Kaoru said sharply. These were the first words he would speak since they'd come back into the hospital room. And his face said that they wouldn't be very happy words. "What about door 3?"

Kusuke frowned and said, "You did see the map, right? I mean, you _were_ the one to point it out to us. It's just going to lead us right back here. There's no point in going through door 3."

"There is a point! There's a point for me, at least!" Kaoru snapped. Despite his angry tone, there were tears in his eyes. He looked rather like a frightened puppy.

Kusuke averted his eyes. Riki, however, stepped up. "You're right. Hikaru might be on the other side of door 3."

At that, Kaoru gave a short nod. Kyoya spoke immediately, "Then I'll come with you. I've had a nice nap, so I think it's time for me to help out once more." He looked at Riki. "You'll help us out, of course, won't you?"

Riki blinked. "Me?"

Shun quickly did the calculations in his head. 4, 1 and 7 added together would equal 12, and the digital root of 12 was 3.

Riki sighed when he did the calculations as well - a bit slower, it appeared, than Shun did. "Alright, well, if that's how it's gotta be," he said. "So, I'm going with you two, huh?"

"You are," Kyoya said with a short nod.

"Alright," Riki said, "let's get moving, then."

Shun watched as Kaoru, Kyoya and Riki went over to door 3's RED. Each one of them put up their hands, one after the other. "Be careful," Kokomi called out, just before Riki pulled the lever.

"Yeah, will do, Kokomi," Riki replied, a slight smirk tugging at his lips as he looked back at the woman. And with that, Riki pulled the lever, and door 3 opened. The three of them rushed through the threshold before anything else could be said.

And after 9 seconds, the door closed.

"Alright," Kokomi said, "we should get moving, too."

Shun, Kusuo and Kusuke blinked in confusion. "Where are we going?" Kusuke asked.

"It'd be a waste of time if we just sat around," she pointed out. "Let me explain..."

 


	17. Chapter 17

It didn't take long - it was a short explanation. "Let's see if we can get anywhere using the Jupiter key," Kokomi said simply. "If we're lucky, we'll find Hikaru."

So, the lot of them made their way down to the long hallway, and at the end of it, waiting for them, sat the door with the Jupiter symbol on the lock. "Shun," Kokomi said, "open it, please."

"On it," Shun said, giving her a slight nod. He rustled through his pocket, and pulled out the Jupiter key. He stuck it into the keyhole, and gave it a twist. With a nice, sharp click, he could feel the door unlock. Shun swallowed thickly. He turned the knob slowly, and gently opened the door.

Inside the room was exactly what they'd been expecting to see, based on the map. They were in a large ballroom-like area, with a massive staircase. The C Deck central staircase.

"What a brilliant idea," Kusuke said, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Going right back to the beginning! Lovely idea, Kokomi and Shun, truly!"

Kokomi sighed. "Kusuke, calm down the theatrics," she said dryly.

"We've already searched this entire room, though!" Kusuke insisted. "Anyone mind telling me why we bothered coming back, if there was a reason at all?"

"Of course there was a reason," Shun said, looking at Kusuke in bewilderment. Then, under his breath, he added, "I can't tell if you're smart or not anymore..."

Kusuke narrowed his eyes. "What'd you say?"

"Nothing," Shun said quickly. He sighed, and pulled out the keys from his pocket. "These. These are the reasons we came back."

Kusuke simply stared at Shun blankly, with his head cocked like a confused puppy. After several long, silent moments, Kusuo sighed and took pity on him. "Don't you remember, Kusuke?" he said. "Up on A Deck, there's two elevators. And next to those elevators were card readers with the Saturn symbol on them. And there was also a door on A Deck, with an Earth symbol on it. So those keys there-"

"Oh. They'll let us access the elevators and go into the door," Kusuke said, suddenly understanding.

"That's right," Kusuo said.

Kusuke nodded slightly. "Alright, let's get up to A Deck, then."

Kokomi, Kusuo, Kusuke and Shun all ran up the stairs. First they got up to B Deck, then to A Deck.

"Kokomi and I can search through the Earth door," Kusuke said. "You two can see where those elevators go."

"Sounds good," Shun said. "Here's the key." He held out the Earth key towards Kusuke. "But we don't know what's on the other sides of these doors, okay? So we should only search for 10 minutes before we come back." Kusuke and Kokomi nodded in agreement. Kusuke took the key, then headed towards the door with Kokomi at his side. Kusuo and Shun watched them unlock the door and enter it, then they headed for the elevators.

"I don't think it matters which one we use," Shun said, "so let's just do the left one."

"Sounds good."

Shun swiped the key card, then pulled the lever down. A bright green light in the corner of the reader blinked on. "Looks like it's working now," he said, giving a soft sigh of relief.

"Right... Now I need to call the elevator," Kusuo said. He spotted a button next to the elevator they were in, a green one with an upside down triangle. He looked to Shun, who gave a slight nod. Then Kusuo reached out and pressed the button.

They heard the sound of metal grinding as the elevator moved up to the A Deck. The sound slowly came to a halt, and the gate in front of the elevator opened, followed by the elevator itself. "It opened!" Kusuo said. "Shine, look!" Though his voice was excited, Shun could hear a tinge of nervousness in it, too.

"Great!" Shun said. "Let's get going, then." He gave Kusuo a grin, and stepped towards the elevator. But as he was about to set foot inside, he felt Kusuo place a hand on his arm.

"W-wait..."

"What? Something wrong?"

Kusuo swallowed thickly, drawing his hand back to his chest. "I just... I'm not really, uh... Oh, geez..." He began fiddling with the sleeve of his sparkly purple sweater, looking everywhere but at Shun.

Shun frowned. What could Kusuo possibly be so scared of? He ran through the possibilities, and eventually, he realized.

"You don't want to go down, do you?"

Kusuo shook his head. "We didn't see an elevator on B Deck or C Deck, right? A-and D Deck is under water," he said, looking genuinely terrified.

"Yeah... Yeah, I see your point. An elevator going down to a submerged floor is pretty scary..." Shun shuddered as thoughts of drowning came to him.

But then, before his thoughts could go too far and make him back out, something else clicked in his mind. "Wait, this elevator came up from somewhere under us, right?"

"...Right," Kusuo said softly. "I could... Hear it moving, before it opened."

"Well, take a look inside," Shun said, motioning towards the inside of the elevator. "The walls and the floor are completely dry."

Kusuo hesitated, looking into the elevator. "Yeah... They are," he said softly. But Shun could tell that he still wasn't completely convinced.

"Let's test it," he suggested. Kusuo looked at him in confusion.

"Test it?" he repeated, tilting his head.

Shun nodded. "Like this." He took one step into the elevator, and looked over at where the buttons were. "Ah... There're only 2 buttons. A and E."

"We haven't been to E Deck," Kusuo noted. "I wonder if it's underwater..."

"I'll push E, then," Shun said. He pressed E, then leapt back out of the elevator. The door, and the gate, to the elevator slid shut, and they heard the grinding of metal on metal as it moved down. They heard a faint 'ding', which they took to mean it was opening. "Okay, call the elevator again."

Kusuo nodded, and pressed the green button. A few moments later, the elevator returned back to A Deck, and slid open. The inside was completely dry - no water anywhere.

Kusuo frowned in confusion. "What does this mean? That D Deck is underwater but E Deck isn't?" he asked. "How's that possible?"

"Well," Shun said carefully, "maybe Zero made sure that the elevator shaft and E Deck are both separated from wherever the ship's been punctured. They must be water-tight, too, so none of the water can accidentally get to E Deck."

"Oh," Kusuo whispered. "Do you think that's why the ship hasn't sunk, then? If you're right, then the shape of the inside would keep it from filling entirely with water, at least for the time being."

"Yeah," Shun said, giving a firm nod. "If you're still worried, though, you can stay here. I don't mind going to check it out myself."

"Um, well..." Kusuo hesitated, squirming nervously.

Shun nodded, taking that as an agreement. He reached up to give Kusuo's shoulder a reassuring squeeze, then he headed into the elevator. He reached up and pressed the button for E Deck...

"I'm coming with you!" Kusuo suddenly shouted, at the last possible moment. And he leapt into the elevator right before the doors closed completely. He looked at Shun, pouting slightly. "I can't just let you go alone, you know."

Shun blinked, staring at Kusuo in shock. Due to the sudden close proximity, he realized that Kusuo was... Taller than him. It made him shrink back, even though the difference in their height was minimal, at best. It had to be around two, maybe three, centimeters.

Back when they were kids,  _he'd_ been the taller one. What happened? Had they really been away from each other for so long?

Then the elevator opened once more - having finished its journey to E Deck - and he shook away the thoughts. The pair of them stepped out, looking around tentatively. "It... Looks normal," Shun said softly. Then he turned to Kusuo...

Whose cheeks were puffed out, and whose face was slowly being stained a light pink color. Shun sighed good-naturedly. "Knock it off," he said playfully. "It's just like I thought, okay? No water to be seen. Seriously, look around."

Kusuo did as he was told. Then, he let out his breath, allowing his face to turn back to its normal color. "Okay, you were right," he said. "But there is water on top of us, right?"

"Yeah," Shun said, a frown tugging at his lips.

"What'll happen if the ceiling breaks, then...?"

Shun considered that for a moment. "We would... Probably die."

"What?!" Kusuo shrieked. "Don't be so casual about something like that!"

"Well, at any rate," Shun continued, ignoring Kusuo's scream, "we should probably get back as soon as we can, when we're done searching down here. I mean, Kokomi and Kusuke might already be back."

Kusuo gave a shaky sigh. "Okay. Yeah, good idea."

"Now..." Shun spoke, taking a look around the room they'd ended up in.

The first thing he spotted was a set of thick iron bars. They ran down the length of the room, and separated the left elevator, the one they'd come down, from the right one. "Guess we can't go over there," he noted. "So..."

In the corner of the room, in the area they were in, Shun saw an opening. He walked up to it, and found a long, straight hallway that led right down to a door...

A Numbered Door, to be precise.

Shun and Kusuo rushed down to the door at a sort of jog-like pace. When they got there, sure enough, it was door 6. And right next to the door was a RED.

"We have to go back and let everyone know!" Kusuo said.

So they turned, ready to head back to A Deck, but along the way...

"Wait. What's this?"

Up on the wall, Shun noticed something. He pulled it down, examining it. "This is... Ah! It's the map for E Deck! Let's take it with us."

And with that, the pair of them rushed back to the elevators so they could meet up with everyone else.


	18. Chapter 18

"So you guys found door 1 behind the door the Earth key unlocked?" Shun asked to clarify, tilting his head at Kusuke and Kokomi, once they had met up back on A Deck.

"Yep," Kusuke said with a nod. "That makes 2 new doors - 6 and 1."

"It's interesting that E Deck wasn't flooded," Kokomi said, putting one hand on her hip. She fell silent, then, seeming to be lost in thought for a moment.

"Well," Shun said slowly, "we don't really know if all of E Deck is safe. We only checked the area around the elevator, so..."

"Even so, it's... Interesting."

"You did say the 6 door was there, right?" Kusuke said. "That'd mean that Zero planned all of this. Even the sinking. And that means there'd have to be some serious remodeling of the ship's interior."

"That's kind of impressive," Kokomi said softly.

"Yeah," Kusuo agreed. "I mean, imagine how long it took, or how much it costed..."

"Would've been a lot," Kusuke said softly.

Shun hummed. "Maybe Zero's not the only person who was working on this, then," he suggested.

Kusuo, Kokomi and Kusuke looked at him. "What do you mean?" Kusuke asked.

"I mean, maybe this whole thing was set up by an organization, or a company, or whatever. One that has access to a ton of cash."

"Yeah..." Kokomi said. "Yeah, that does make sense."

The 4 of them went silent, then, considering this.

Kusuo bit his lip. Kokomi sighed softly to herself. And Kusuke rested his hands back on his neck, looking off into the distance at nothing in particular.

Eventually, Kusuo spoke. "I..."

"Hm? Kusuo?" Shun asked, gently encouraging him to speak.

"I don't think... We should stay here," Kusuo said softly. He looked down at Shun with nervous, pleading eyes. And Shun quickly realized what he meant.

"Yeah," he said. "Kyoya and the other two might be back by now."

"Well," Kokomi spoke, "Kusuo, Shun and I should be able to open door 1..."

"Wha- Hey!" Kusuke said sharply, rounding on Kokomi. "You planning to leave me behind?!"

Kokomi gave a soft laugh. "I was kidding, Kusuke, don't take it so seriously. Let's go back to the hospital room."

That was all the encouragement they needed. They went back down to C Deck, then through the unlocked door. And straight back to the hospital room.

As soon as they arrived, a loud voice echoed through the area.

"Where the hell were you guys?!" Riki demanded, standing in front of the blank door.

"Riki...?" Shun whispered, looking at him in confusion. Then, he noticed, next to him, stood Kyoya and Kaoru - both of whom looked upset about something. "What's... What's wrong?" he asked. The air felt strange... Tense.

For a long moment, no one answered Shun's question. He looked around nervously, then back to Riki. "Well... What happened?"

Finally, he got a response. "What kind of fucking question is that, runt?!"

It was somewhat obvious that Riki's anger wasn't as bad as he was trying to make it seem. Something had clearly shaken the man. His voice was strained, his body was shaking, and his red baseball cap was clenched in his left fist.

"Hikaru is... Hikaru was..." Riki couldn't finish. He looked away, expression dark.

Shun blinked after a moment, once he processed the name that had come from his mouth. They'd found Hikaru? Before he could ask, Kyoya spoke.

"Hikaru... Is dead."


	19. Chapter 19

Shun blinked. "Hikaru is... What?" he whispered, the words that Kyoya had spoken somehow not making any sense to him.

"He died," Kyoya said in a grim tone. "He died, just as Number 9 did."

Those words brought to mind the horrific scene from beyond door 5. The blood... The flesh... Shun swallowed thickly, staring at Kyoya in shock. It felt like all the air had just suddenly been sucked from the room. He felt his heart quicken its pace, and he suddenly realized he was having trouble breathing.

Meanwhile, Kusuo, Kokomi and Kusuke all looked the same way that he felt. All 3 were frozen in place with faces colored white with fear and shock.

"That's... That's not true, is it?" Kusuo whispered, just loud enough to be heard. Shun had no reply.

"We need to make sure," Kokomi said, voice rushed.

Shun nodded rapidly, suddenly finding his voice. "Yeah. We should."

They nodded to one another, and the lot of them started towards door 3. But Riki's voice cut across the room. "Wait!" he shouted. "Not that way!"

"What?" Shun said. They all stopped short, staring at Riki in confusion. "Why not?"

Riki pointed at the blank door. There, he had strategically placed a screwdriver into the door, so as to keep it from closing completely. "Go in that way," he explained. "I made sure it wouldn't lock."

Shun swallowed thickly. "Okay. Where... Where is he?"

"The shower room," Riki said. "Left side of the hallway. I put a broom in that door, too, to keep it open."

"So we can get in without going through the Numbered Door," Kusuke said. Riki nodded in response.

"Alright," Shun said softly. "Let's go."

So with their new destination clear, Shun and the others headed for the blank door. Once they were in the hallway, it was easy enough to find the door that Riki had indicated - they just sought out the one with the broom in it. They stared at the door, nervous, then Shun opened it and they all stepped inside.

Immediately, they covered their noses. "It smells horrible!" Kokomi said.

It seemed as though Riki and Kyoya had been telling the truth.

"I feel like I'm gonna puke," Kusuke said.

The scent in the air was thick, so bad that they could almost  _taste_ it. It smelled like flesh, blood, and waste. Shun covered his mouth, struggling to keep the little that was in his stomach where it belonged. He swallowed, and spoke, "Where's... Where's Hikaru..."

They knew now that he was definitely here, and was definitely dead. But for some unfathomable reason, they still needed to see him.

They soon spotted him, or rather his blood, near where door 3 would have led in. They saw the blood splatter on the floor and walls, and walked cautiously over. The body itself was hidden behind a divider. When they got close, Shun turned to Kusuo. "Stay away," he said softly, gently.

"But..." Kusuo tried to protest.

"Please," Shun whispered. "Just do me a favor, okay?"

He didn't let him say no. He placed a hand on Shun's shoulder, and gently led him as far away from the body as he could. Then he turned back towards the divider, and walked over.

It almost felt like it took him an eternity to get there. Kokomi and Kusuke were following him, as nervous and skittish as a couple of cats about to be put in a bathtub full of water.

Eventually, they reached the edge of the divider. They looked carefully at each other, and nodded slowly.

Shun slowly peeked around the edge...

He forgot to breathe for a moment. He felt his heart drop into his stomach like it was made of cement. Time froze, and he knew he would take the image of the scene before him to the grave. No matter what else in his life he forgot, he would never be able to forget this.

What was left of the body was in a small lake of its own blood. Small chunks of flesh were sat around the body like little boats around an island. A ragged hole had been torn through the torso, and what was left of the intestines spilled out of the body like pieces of limp noodles. Other pieces of flesh had become stuck to the wall, and had seemed to harden there.

The entirety of the face was either gone, covered in blood, or just unrecognizable. The only way to tell that this was indeed Hikaru was the light blue, blood-soaked hoodie that the corpse was wearing.

And his bracelet... It was laying next to the body in all the blood. It appeared to have hit the floor, or perhaps the wall, hard enough to shatter the display. The glass was in pieces.

"Kyoya was right," Kusuke spoke, voice strained. "Just... Just like Number 9... The detonator in his bracelet set off the bomb inside him..."

"Oh god..." Shun winced. "The bone... The bone in his left arm..."

"Definitely... An open fracture," Kusuke whispered, looking as though the sight was causing him pain.

Indeed, Hikaru's legs were bent in an odd, unnatural way, and the bone of his left arm was poking out of the flesh, exposing the painfully white color.

"The face," Kokomi said in a soft, whining tone. "It's awful..."

"If not for the clothes, we wouldn't even know who this was," Kusuke mumbled. Indeed, not just the hoodie, but the light khaki pants and the dark brown loafers also pointed to the body being Hikaru's.

"Yeah," Kokomi whispered. "No mistake about it. It's definitely Hikaru." Her voice was strained. She obviously was upset about Hikaru's death - and who wouldn't be? Any sort of death, especially one as gruesome as this, was enough to upset anyone.

Slowly, having seen what they'd come to see, all of them made their way back to the hospital room.


	20. Chapter 20

The sound of metal squeaking in the distance was a noise that Shun would never be able to get used to - and he hoped he wouldn't have to. It sounded vaguely like the sound a ghost might make. The silence in the hospital room only amplified it.

That said, it certainly didn't help that, sitting just a few feet away, there was someone who looked too much like a phantom than any living being had the right to. Kaoru sat on a bed, head dropped listlessly so that his eyes were staring lazily, blankly, at the floor. His breathing was slow and mechanical - the only sign that he was a living person. Aside from that, Kaoru wasn't moving at all.

Shun had the sense that he might shatter if he was even slightly nudged.

Out of nowhere, Riki spoke in a grim tone. "Hikaru was probably murdered. You know, in the same way that Number 9 was." His voice was low, likely in an attempt to keep Kaoru from hearing the observation.

Riki looked at the others - Kyoya, Kusuke, Shun, Kusuo and Kokomi - and then continued. "It's not that hard to figure out, right? First, the killers get Hikaru to authenticate on the RED to open door 3. Then they shove him into it, alone... And wait for the door to shut." Riki swallowed thickly. "Once the door shut, it was all over. But Hikaru didn't give up - doesn't seem like the type. So he ran to the shower room, looking for the DEAD. It was a small chance that the DEAD would let him authenticate, without the others who'd been at the RED, but it wasn't exactly like he had anything to lose. But, obviously... It didn't work." They all remembered the card Hikaru had read from at the start of the game, so no one needed him to clarify. "So, 81 seconds after he was shoved in... Well, we all know what happened."

"You said... Killers," Kusuke said carefully.

"Yeah," Riki confirmed. "You need at least 3 people to open a Numbered Door. Including Hikaru, there have to have been at least 2 others. It wouldn't open for just Hikaru and one killer. That means we're looking for multiple people."

Shun frowned, crossing his arms. "Let's say you're right, Riki," he said. "When do you think he was killed, then?"

"Probably when we all split up to look for the RED parts. When we all got back, we noticed he was gone, right?"

"Then... You're saying none of us have alibis," Shun whispered. "We were all looking through the rooms we'd been assigned, separately from the others."

Riki sighed. "Yeah. That's right."

"So... Anybody could be a killer," Shun said. The words hit him, and the rest of the group, like a ton of bricks dropping on their heads.

Quickly, Kusuo spoke up. "Wait!" he said. "What are you talking about?! How can you say that so casually?! You just implied that 1 of us is a killer!"

"Well, uh," Riki said, "actually, if I'm right, I implied that at least 2 of us are-"

"Why don't we all calm down a bit," Kyoya interrupted. He looked to Riki. "What are you going to gain by being so suspicious of the rest of us? Zero is our enemy. I'm sure that's what they want - for us to not trust each other, for us to argue and fall apart."

"What... Zero wants?" Riki repeated, a frown on his lips.

"Exactly," Kyoya said with a firm nod. "The game was set up by Zero, correct? Any game must have a winner and a loser. All those who enter door 9 are winners, and those who don't are losers. And Zero wants us to fight among ourselves for the victory of being through door 9."

"So... Zero is trying to split us up?" Kusuo asked.

"Precisely," Kyoya answered with a nod. "That's why we cannot fall for those traps that they have set, and we cannot fall prey to suspicion. We must trust one another - otherwise, we will only end up being manipulated by Zero."

"So, then..." Kokomi frowned, obviously considering Kyoya's words carefully. "You're saying that the person who killed Hikaru..."

"Yes. I'm positive that it was Zero himself," Kyoya said with a firm nod. "If there is anyone for us to doubt, it's Zero. After all, they masterminded this game, and kidnapped all of us. Is it not reasonable to believe that is Hikaru's murderer as well?"

Shun frowned, considering that. If that was the case, then... Zero would still be on the ship with them. That made some semblance of sense, true, but...

Where, in that case, was Zero? None of them had mentioned seeing anyone, any particularly strange shadows or something of that sort. So where could Zero be? "Where could they be hiding?" he whispered.

And suddenly, everyone went eerily silent. Once again, the ghostly sound of groaning metal came to his ears, and he shuddered.

A moment later, the person who looked more ghost than human walked over to the group, almost unnoticed. Everyone looked to Kaoru. He spoke in a cold monotone. "I think... Zero... Is one of us."

The words hit everyone, but in a different way than Shun's words had earlier. These words hit them like they'd suddenly been dunked in ice water, freezing them from head to toe. Indeed, everyone had frozen up at the words, with the only sound being their breathing, and the only movement being their blinking and the rapid, suspicious glances from face to face.

Shun swallowed thickly at the thought. One of them, being Zero...?

Quickly, Shun blurted out, "Kaoru, didn't you just hear what Kyoya was talking about? Saying that kind of thing and getting everyone all suspicious is exactly what Zero wants from us!"

Kaoru looked at Shun, a heartbroken expression on his face. "You... Don't believe me?" he asked softly.

Shun blinked. That face... It played at his heartstrings in an utterly unfair way. His heart tightened, and he averted his gaze. Shun didn't think what he, himself, had said was wrong, but... Maybe the way he had said it had been. He'd been too insensitive.

After all, Kaoru had lost his brother. Just knowing that he was dead was bad enough, but he'd also seen that... That mess that was formerly called a body. Shun had barely known him, and the sight had been enough to make  _him_ sick. What Kaoru felt... It must have been something he couldn't begin to imagine. In that mental state, perhaps it was understandable that he would view the others around him, the ones he didn't even know, with suspicion. He must have felt like everyone was against him, everyone was a suspect.

The least Shun could have done was try to understand that feeling.

He felt ashamed of what he'd said, and wished he could have taken it back. But before any apology could begin-

"Kaoru," Kyoya said gently, "I understand what you must be feeling right now. You don't think you can trust us, right?" As he spoke, his voice was a gentle, calming one, and his face was friendly. "But please, you must understand something - the more we distrust one another, the further we will fall into our enemy's trap. Zero was the one who did those horrible things to your brother, not one of us. Do you really want to let yourself be manipulated by someone who would do that?"

Kaoru didn't answer. In fact, he didn't even look at Kyoya. The whole time, his eyes were on Shun. His eyes, the color of a yellow diamond, held no suspicion. Only a deep sadness.

Then, interrupting the horrible silence...

They heard the sound of a bell ringing in the distance. The clock at the central staircase. It rang 3 times.

"We have 3 hours left," Kokomi said.

"Then we need to move," Kyoya said. "Now." He looked to Riki and Kaoru. "I know how you two feel," he said, "but right now, it's important for us to trust each other. Do you understand?"

Riki and Kaoru didn't respond. Each of them were staring at the wall.

Kyoya sighed. "We have to go. We have far too little time left."

"Then, where are we going?" Shun asked.

"We found the Mercury card reader in the shower room," Kyoya said, pulling it out. "Shun and Kusuo could take those elevators by the stairs, and see what's down there."

"Sounds good," Kusuo said. So Kyoya handed them the key card.

The pair of them rushed to the elevators, the ones sitting between the long hallway and the hospital room. Shun slid the card through the reader once they arrived, wasting no time. He pulled the lever, and the light up in the corner turned a bright green.

"Let's go, Shine!" Kusuo said, a light in his eyes.

"What's with you?" Shun asked.

Kusuo blushed. "Well... I'm happy we were put together," he said softly.

Shun blinked. "Um, you know we're just gonna be searching E Deck, right?"

"I know. But I'm still glad to be with you."

"Oh. Uh, okay." Shun awkwardly cleared his throat. "Well, uh, first, we should see if the elevator comes up full of water, like we did with the elevator up on A Deck." So, they did just that - called the elevator, sent it down to the lowest floor, and then called it once more.

Sure enough, the elevator was dry when it opened the second time. Once they made sure of that, they entered the elevator. Then, Kusuo noticed something.

"Look. It looks like there were some other buttons in here, but most of them, except for C Deck, and 'Bottom', have been destroyed."

"Yeah, you're right," Shun said, looking at the buttons with a frown. He hadn't really taken notice of the buttons when testing the elevator, but now that Kusuo had pointed it out, it really was strange. "Well, uh, we're on C Deck right now, so let's try 'Bottom'." And with that, he hit the button. The door shut, and the elevator slowly began moving downward...


	21. Chapter 21

Shun and Kusuo stepped carefully off of the elevator when it opened. "So, this is the... Bottom Deck, huh?" Shun said, looking around. The hallway to their right ended about 20 to 25 feet away from where they stood. Meanwhile, the hallway in front of them was a dead end. But not just any dead end...

"Hey, look!" Kusuo said excitedly. "That's a Numbered Door!"

"So that's the 8th one we've found in total," Shun said. "We've found 5, 4, 3, 7, and 8, all of which we've explored. Then there's 6 on E Deck, 1 on A Deck, and this one, 2."

Kusuo looked at Shun with wide eyes. It seemed like they were both thinking the same thing, but it was Kusuo who said the words. "Do you think that the next door we find could be..."

"Yeah... Yeah, I think so," Shun said. "The next door has to be door 9."

Despite himself, Shun felt... Excited. However, it was a sort of frightened excitement.

"Finally," Kusuo said, looking nothing but relieved.

"...Yeah," Shun said slowly.

Kusuo frowned, looking at Shun's expression. "You don't seem very happy," he noted.

"It's... It's not that. I just hope nothing goes wrong, you know?"

"Yeah... I guess we should keep our fingers crossed."

Shun gave a slight nod. "Let's... Let's head back."

He did his best to put the thought from his mind, and he turned back towards the elevator, heading back to C Deck with Kusuo.

Once everyone met back up on C Deck, everyone decided to do a blind vote on who wanted to go into what door. That way, no one could change their minds based on who else wanted to go where, and no one could force others to go into their chosen doors - everything would be fair.

So, using pieces of paper that they'd gotten from the rooms they'd woken up in, they'd each written down their names and the door number they wanted. It was decided that Shun would be the one to look them over.

"I can't believe we're voting," Riki grumbled.

"We need to make the whole thing fair," Kusuke said in a patronizing tone. "Though this is a needlessly complicated plan..."

That said, it wasn't as if Shun was particularly 'playing by the rules' here. He had a bit of a secret plan, himself. However, it wasn't one he wanted anyone to know of - hence the phrase, 'secret plan' - so he did hid best to act calm as he began unfolding and looking at each piece of paper.

"Alright, let's see... This one says, Kyoya, and door 1."

"That's right," Kyoya said, giving a nod.

"Alright, then..." Shun opened the next one. "Kusuke wants door 6."

"Yep."

So it went with the others. Kaoru ended up wanting door 1, while Kokomi and Riki both wanted door 2.

"Wait a second!" Kokomi said. "I don't want to go anywhere with that brutish-!"

"Hey, we agreed! No changing answers!" Riki interrupted.

"Who interrupts a lady when she's speaking?!" Kokomi shouted, a menacing glare on her face.

"Shun, read the rest," Kyoya said, "and fast!"

"R-right!" Shun said. He looked down at the next piece of paper. "Kusuo wants door 6," he declared.

With everyone else's papers having been read, Shun did some quick calculations in his mind. Based on everyone else's choices...

"Okay, this last one is mine," he said, opening the last page. "I want to go through door 6."

Kusuo frowned. "That's a problem," he said. "None of these teams can go through the doors that they want."

"Yeah. Me and Kokomi wanted door 2, but we need 3 people, and the digital root doesn't match up," Riki said with a sigh.

"Kaoru and I have the same problem," Kyoya added.

"And Kusuo, Shun and I don't have a digital root of 6. If we wanna go through that door, we need a 1."

Kokomi sighed. "What are we going to do now, then?"

Shun crossed his arms, doing his best to put his thoughts into order. The others did the same, but with little result.

Eventually, Kaoru broke the silence. "Can Riki and Kokomi go through door 1 with me...?" His face was cold, and his voice was flat. But the logic behind his suggestion was sound.

Kokomi and Riki looked at each other. Then they sighed, looked to Kaoru, and nodded.

The first problem solved, Kyoya spoke. "What about me?"

"Isn't that obvious?" Kaoru said. "One of the other teams was complaining they didn't have a 1."

"You mean, I should join Kusuke's team."

Kaoru stared blankly at Kyoya's face. "Yeah." His posture and voice could not have been more different than the one of the person Shun had met just 6 hours ago. The one that had been dragging his brother around, desperately asking to go with him through door 5, or telling Shun to get a move on...

Due to that, no one appeared like they wanted to contradict him. His behavior was understandable, of course, given everything that he'd been through, but even so...

"Very well," Kyoya said. "I'll go through door 6, then. If we do it like this, everyone can go through a Numbered Door, and no one will get left behind. This is the most reasonable solution."

"Riki, Kokomi? You guys good?" Shun asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine with it," Riki said with a nod.

"Me too," Kokomi said with a sigh.

"Alright. Then we're good to go," Shun said.

Already moving, Kaoru said, "See you guys later."

Riki and Kokomi immediately chased after him. "Wait, Kaoru!" Riki called. "Don't move on your own!"

"Be careful!" Shun called after the three. There was no indication that he'd been heard.

With a sigh, Kyoya said, "We should get going, as well, then."

"Ah, we need to follow them!" Kusuo said. "The elevator we need to take is on A Deck!"

So, they headed after Riki, Kokomi and Kaoru, heading to the A Deck elevator. By the time they got there, the 3 of them were already gone through the Earth door, and likely already into the 1 door as well. So, Shun, Kusuke, Kyoya and Kusuo used the elevator to head down to E Deck.

The ride down was a silent one.

When they arrived, Kyoya and Kusuke looked around in interest. "This is E Deck, then," Kyoya said.

"The 6 door should be at the end of this hallway," Kusuo said, leading the group down towards it.

It wasn't long before they found themselves in front of the door, facing the bright, bloody red paint that was emblazoned on the door. One by one, they placed their hands on the RED. Each one of their numbers authenticated, and an asterisk appeared on the RED for every number.

Then, Shun pulled the lever, and the door opened. All at once, the 4 of them ran through.

Fortunately, the DEAD was located easily enough, as it was quite close to the door they'd entered through. They gathered around it, and quickly, one by one, placed their palms on it. When Shun pulled the lever, the beeping on their bracelets stopped. All at once, the 4 of them sighed in relief.

Although the countdown had stopped, Shun's heart was racing like crazy in his chest, like a frantic drumbeat. He felt like it was planning to crawl from his throat and pop out of his mouth.

Kyoya spoke. "I don't think I'll ever get used to that..."

"I don't think I want to get used to it," Shun said shakily. "Hopefully we'll finish the game before imminent death becomes normal for us."

"Damn right," Kusuke said. "Once I get out of here, I'm taking a nice long vacation."

"Agreed," Kyoya said.

With that, the doom and gloom from before lifted into a more light mood.

"Alright, let's go," Shun said.

And they began to walk. At the end of the hallway sat some stairs. And at the end of those, they found a large door. "This looks really heavy," Kusuo said.

Shun grabbed on to the bar that served as the door's doorknob. He shoved it down, and, with some effort - and Kusuke's help - he managed to get the door open.

The room beyond made all of them stop in their tracks, though.


	22. Chapter 22

The room before them was huge, and made entirely out of metal. There were no accents of wood or tile, as had been seen in the rest of the ship. The room was purely for function - and it was tremendous.

"What the hell is this?" Kusuke whispered.

The rest of them could find no words to answer the question.

Eventually, Shun spoke, "This is... The biggest room we've been in. Bigger than the hospital room. A-and look how high the ceiling is!"

"This place could be two stories... Maybe more," Kusuke noted.

"This space could very well be using the entire length of the ship," Kyoya said, seeming to be as shocked as the rest of them.

"What about that big building standing in the middle?" Kusuo asked. "It looks kind of like a kamaboko..."

Even Shun looked at Kusuo with a bewildered expression from his choice of description - though Kusuo didn't appear to notice. Still, the word had been as good of a choice of words as any other one - the building he'd indicated did, in fact, look like a fish cake.

Shun and the others stood on a long catwalk that went around the whole perimeter of the room. "Let's head towards those stairs," Shun suggested, choosing not to respond to Kusuo's comment.

"You kidding? This section's barely wide enough to fit a single person!" Kusuke pointed out.

"We'll have to go in a line, then," Shun said. Kusuke frowned, but made no other argument.

So, they went down the catwalk in a single-file line, and slowly made their way down the stairs. They ended up right in front of the 'kamaboko' building Kusuo had mentioned.

"You can't even tell the shape when you're this close," Kusuo said.

"We should check out the other side, too," Shun suggested.

So they moved around the massive building, following the catwalk as they went to the other side.

Eventually, along the way, Kyoya spoke. "This appears to be the steam engine room."

"Steam engine room?" Kusuke repeated.

"Yes. That thing over there that looks like the cross-section of a mushroom is the boiler. See the three doors at the bottom? Coal is put into those, and burned. This heats the water and produces steam. This engine, though, is... Somewhat larger."

"I see," Shun said slowly.

"It doesn't look like it's running right now," Kyoya noted.

Indeed, the entire room was as silent as an empty grave.

"Alright, well, we should split-"

Before Shun could finish his sentence, he heard a noise behind him.

He turned, and saw Kusuo collapsing to his knees. Immediately, he was at his side, wrapping one arm around Kusuo's shoulder to steady him. "Hey, what's wrong? Are you alright?"

"Shine..." Kusuo whispered, voice breathless.

It was then that Shun noticed... "Oh, god, you're really warm," he said. "Is your fever coming back?!"

"Y-yeah," Kusuo whispered. "Yeah, it... It probably is..." He forced a smile up to Shun. "But I... I'm fine. Please don't worry about... Me... I just need to r-rest, and I'll be fine..."

His voice was weak, however, and that said far more than his words did.

Shun swallowed thickly. "Okay, um, sit down here. C-careful..." Shun guided him over to the nearest wall, helping Kusuo walk, and then gently propped him up against it.

Kusuo let his head fall back, as though he were a rag doll, and he let out a shaky breath. "Thank... You..." His eyes seemed empty, and even speaking looked as though it was difficult for him. Shun felt his hand clench into a fist, so tight that his knuckles turned white.

He had to find a way out. And quickly.

He turned, and looked to both Kusuke and Kyoya. "Kusuke. Kyoya."

"Yes," Kyoya said with a nod.

"Right," Kusuke said, crossing his arms.

They did not have the same intensity of emotion, but they certainly shared his concern.

"Let's get started," Shun announced. He looked at Kusuo. "Hang in there, okay? We'll get you out of here real soon. I promise."

Kusuo managed to give him a small nod, then went back to resting his head on the wall.

Shun started towards the stairs they'd come down earlier, taking note of the sliding switches on the wall at the halfway point. For the time being, seeing as he had no idea what they did, he ignored them and continued up the stairs.

When he got up the stairs, he saw some doors on the top of the furnace. He opened the door with the A on it, and, albeit somewhat hesitantly, walked in. Kusuke and Kyoya followed him.

When they got into the other side, Shun looked around. "Huh... Where are we?"

"I believe we're on the other side of the furnace," Kyoya said.

"So, we're right above the conveyor belt next to Kusuo," Kusuke said.

"Well, let's keep moving," Shun said.

He spotted another door - this one with the letter B on it. He recalled how door B had been blocked on the other side, because of large boxes. So he entered it, ending up on the other side of the furnace, and on the other side of the boxes.

He walked down the catwalk, seeing some boxes hanging by a rope on a winch. He reached out, touching the wheel, but it... Fell off, right into his hands.

"Great job," Kusuke said mockingly. "You broke it."

"I did not!" Shun argued. "It broke all by itself!"

Shun pouted at the look Kusuke shot him, and he stormed back to the B door. When he ended up on the other side of the furnace again, he decided to try door C this time. They ended up on the other side of the stairs - an area that would have only been otherwise accessible by a thin strip of metal.

There was a winch on this side of the catwalk, too. This one, however, did not have a wheel to operate it with. Shun put in the wheel he'd gotten from the other winch, and it fit perfectly. "Ah... It's a perfect fit! Ha, Kusuke! I knew what I was doing!"

"Doubtful," Kusuke responded.

"You should turn the wheel now," Kyoya suggested. "There's a box that can be lifted up using this device."

"Uh..." Shun frowned as he tried to turn the wheel. "Not so sure. It looks like this thing only turns left, so..."

"It only goes down?" Kusuke said incredulously.

"Well, we'll just go down the stairs once the box has been let down," Kyoya said. "That's not a problem."

"Yeah, I guess not," Shun said with a shrug. So, he turned the wheel. Eventually, he heard a dull 'thud' noise.

"Sounds like the box has reached the floor," Kyoya noted.

Just to make sure, Shun stuck his head out over the other side of the catwalk to look down. Indeed, the box that Kyoya had indicated was now sitting on the floor. In fact, it was right near Kusuo. Shun could see the way he was slumped to one side, as if he barely had the strength to sit up.

Even from the distance they were at, it was easy to see the lack of improvement in his condition. Shun almost thought he could see heat, rising from his body...

"It doesn't look like he's getting any better," Kyoya said, coming up next to Shun.

"Well, um, of course not! He won't just get better right away... It'll take time..." Despite his words, Shun frowned in concern down at Kusuo. He even had to try and convince himself that his words were true.

"I wonder what could be causing it," Kyoya said. "Illness, perhaps?"

"It's gotta be exhaustion," Kusuke spoke up, now joining the two. His words were confident and certain. "I mean, he gets kidnapped and put into a random ship? And forced to play a deadly game? Thinking about it, isn't it strange that we're not panicking in the same way?"

"So... You think we're the abnormal ones?" Kyoya asked.

"Exactly. We're going around, solving the puzzles in these rooms like it's business as usual. That certainly doesn't seem normal to me. We're... We're like guinea pigs." Kusuke gave a disgusted scoff.

"You mean a lab rat?" Shun asked. "Like, we're being used for an experiment?"

"I'm not saying that's a certainty, but... It does seem like it's possible, right?"

They stood there silently, looking at each other. Then Kusuke turned on his heel and walked away from the winch.

Kyoya and Shun followed, but then, Kusuke suddenly stopped. "You know, speaking of experiments..."


	23. Chapter 23

"There was this experiment some scientists did with rats," Kusuke said.

"An... Experiment with rats?" Shun said, frowning in confusion. What did this have to do with... Anything?

Not sensing what Shun was thinking, Kusuke continued. "Yeah. See, they took a tank that was shaped like a blockish sort of C. And they filled it with enough water that the rats could down in it. The tank had two exits, okay? Let's call one of them A, and one of them B. Exit A is pitch black - so dark even the rats couldn't see in it. But exit B, meanwhile is electrified, so the rats couldn't leave that way." He eyed Shun. "What would you do in this situation? Say you're a rat, and this happens to you. What would you do? Which exit would you choose?"

Shun only stared blankly at Kusuke in bewilderment. Kyoya spoke for him, eventually, and said, "Exit B. After all, a rat has no way of knowing it's electrified."

"Exactly," Kusuke said with a nod to Kyoya. "The rat goes to exit B. Of course, as I said, it's electrified, and the rat can't get out that way. So, after a lot of trial and error, the rat finds exit A."

Shun sighed. "Great. Not that that was relevant... Or even interesting. It was just the story of a lab experiment."

"You're right," Kusuke said, holding up his hands. "It isn't interesting... Yet."

Shun and Kyoya both blinked.

"See," Kusuke began, "the scientists had to repeat the experiment over and over. That's what scientists do, that's how experiments work. Anyway, they used hundreds of different rats, over several generations. They ended up producing some... Interesting results." He paused, looking at Shun and Kyoya, as if to see if he had their attention. "With every generation of rats, the rats took less and less time to find exit A. Eventually, a rat was put in the tank who didn't even try to go to exit B." He smirked. "And that's not even the most impressive part... The exact same experiment was then conducted in another laboratory, probably thousands of miles away from the original one, and it produced the same results." Then, he paused, thinking over what he'd said. "No, wait. The results weren't really the same."

"What do you mean?" Shun asked.

"Well, the rats in the second experiment began the trials with much faster times than the first one did," Kusuke explained. "These rats weren't related to those original rats, though. They'd never come into contact with them, either. And yet, they found their way easily to exit A, like they already knew. What do you think that means?"

Kyoya looked at Kusuke with genuine concern and skepticism in his eyes. "Are you suggesting something like telepathy?" he asked. "That they passed information to each other through some sort of undetectable medium?"

Kusuke rolled his eyes at him. "How would I know that? I'm not a scientist - I don't know what made them do it." Then, he smirked. "But I do know that the story is a true one. And if you have another explanation, I would love to hear it."

Kyoya and Shun simply stared. Satisfied that he'd stumped the two, Kusuke continued moving. "Come on. There's a lot we have to check out... And we should get out of here before Kusuo passes out completely."

Shun, however, spoke up, finally, before he could get too far. "There's something I want to ask you," he said.

Kusuke stopped and turned. "Yeah?"

"Why'd they use that tank for the experiment?"

Kusuke blinked. "...What?"

"It seems like you could conduct the same experiment without the water," Shun said. "They could've used a dry box or something, you know? If they needed motivation, they could have... I don't know, put some bait by one of the exits." He frowned. "Did they really have to make it so the rats could drown?"

Kusuke let out a grim laugh. He smirked, putting a hand into his jean pocket. "You know, 'emergency' comes from the same route as the word 'emerge'. Ever consider that?"

"Uh..."

"An emergency is something urgent - and usually dangerous, too. And emerge is to come out of or rise from something else. So what will emerge in an emergency?" He raised an eyebrow at Shun. "Inspiration."

"Inspiration?" Shun repeated the word slowly.

"Consider it. When everything is lost, and you're in danger, one of two things will happen. Either your mind cracks under the pressure, or it pulls through and gives you what you need."

"So... In an emergency," Shun said, "your real potential emerges. Is that what you're trying to say?"

Kusuke grinned. "Exactly. And that's why there had to be water - that's why the danger of drowning had to be there. The rats had to be in danger. There had to be an emergency for their inspiration to emerge."

"Oh..."

Shun, suddenly, felt a bit... Cold. He felt the back of his head aching, and his stomach was feeling... Strange.

"That all?" Kusuke asked.

Shun blinked. He shook off the strange feeling, and nodded. "Yeah. Let's get moving, now."

Kusuke nodded, and turned, leading everyone back through door C. From there, they all headed down the stairs and went to the box that had been lowered next to Kusuo. Shun pulled out...

"Uh, what is this?" he asked, holding it up for Kusuke and Kyoya to look at.

"Looks like a control panel," Kusuke said with a shrug. It was as good of an answer as any, so Shun shrugged and moved on.

He took notice of a door that was on the conveyor belt that Kusuo was next to. He opened the small door, but found that it was empty. There were three small holes in the back of the locker-like area, though. Shun looked down at the 'control panel' he held, and shrugged. With a bit of effort, he slid the control panel in, hearing the nubs on the back of it click into the holes.

"Impressive," Kusuke noted.

"Okay, but... What now?" Shun asked.

"Try pressing that button," Kyoya suggested. Indeed, there was a glowing orange button next to the door Shun had opened.

Shun shrugged, and pressed the button. Immediately, he heard a hum, and all the lights on the control panel lit up.

"Shun!" Kusuke said. "The conveyor belt is moving!"

Shun turned, and saw that Kusuke was right. There was a lot of coal being dumped into the wooden box that they'd gotten the control panel from. Eventually, it stopped - just in time, as the box was full.

Shun recalled what Kyoya had said about the coal earlier. He shut the door on the control panel, and went to pick up the box of coal. He immediately started for one of the 'kamaboko' shaped boilers (damn, now he couldn't get that out of his head) but Kyoya stopped him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"You're planning to stoke the fires in the boilers, right?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah."

"Well, that's not enough coal," Kyoya said with a frown. "How about the three of us work together to fill one?"

"W-wait," Kusuo said, making the other 3 jump. They turned, seeing Kusuo trying to stand on shaky legs. "I... I want to help t-too..."

Shun frowned. "Do you really feel up to that?" he asked.

"Yeah..."

Shun didn't buy it. "Kusuo, you look like if I poked you, you'd just collapse on me. I think you need to rest some more."

"But-!"

"No arguing," Shun said firmly. "You need to rest. Just stay there - we'll handle this."

Shun and Kusuo stared at each other. Eventually, Kusuo nodded. "Yeah... Okay," he said. "I understand." And then he went back to laying down.

"Alright," Shun said, turning to Kusuke and Kyoya. "Let's get the coal in the boiler."

It took a while, and Shun's arms were aching by the time Kyoya said, "Alright, this is enough."

"Great," Kusuke said. "Now we just have to light it. Shun, matches?"

"Wha... What makes you think I have matches?!" Shun shouted, looking at Kusuke incredulously.

Kusuke returned the expression. "Then how are we going to light it?"

"I'm sure there's a device nearby that will allow us to ignite the coal remotely," Kyoya said quickly. "Let's take a look."

Shun recalled the switches on the wall. He immediately ran towards the stairs. He heard the other 2 following after him, and he went halfway up the stairs to get to the switches. There was one switch that was up, while the rest of them were moved in the down position.

"Think this could be it?" Shun asked Kyoya.

"It could be," Kyoya said. "Give it a try."

Shun pushed the switch down, and immediately, Kusuke let out a shocked noise. "Guys! Check this out!"

Kyoya and Shun both turned, and saw large gears below the boilers turning. However, they soon stopped - likely because the boilers had run out of coal. Though they'd put in all the coal they could find...

"Let's go check out those gears," Kusuke suggested.

Shun, Kyoya and Kusuke all headed down the stairs. Shun went to the closest gear - the gold gear - while Kusuke went to the next closest gear - the bronze gear - and Kyoya went to the farthest gear, which was silver.

Inside each gear was a small disc. They each took the discs, and headed up the stairs opposite the ones they'd come down earlier. There, they found a small machine with an indentation in it, which would just fit each disc they'd found.

One by one, they placed the discs into the slot, and...

A large, metal door next to them slid up and open.


	24. Chapter 24

"Yes!" Shun shouted, pumping his fist in the air. And given the circumstances, his excitement was certainly understandable.

Kyoya smirked slightly - Shun chose to believe that was his way of being excited, as well. "Shun, why don't you go get Kusuo?" Kyoya suggested. "Kusuke and I can keep an eye on this door."

Kusuke snorted incredulously. "Why would we need to do that?" he asked. "Even if the door does shut, we know how to solve the puzzle. We could easily solve it again."

Kyoya blinked. "I suppose that's true... Do you want all 3 of us to go get Kusuo, then?"

"Nope," Kusuke said. "I don't mind letting Shun handle it."

However, he still seemed upset about something. Kusuke sat down on the top of the stairs, looking somewhat like a stubborn child. "So you're only interested in arguing with me," Kyoya said with a sigh, with the air of an annoyed parent.

"I'll just go get Kusuo," Shun said, not wanting any part of... Whatever this was. He dashed off down the stairs, careful to dodge Kusuke.

It didn't take long for him to get to Kusuo's side. "Shine," Kusuo said when he saw Shun approach. He stood up slowly.

"Are you okay?" Shun asked gently. He did his best to hide it, but his concern for Kusuo's state still showed.

"I'm fine now," Kusuo said, ducking his head to hide his shy smile. "I'm sorry I made you worry." He was blushing. Shun was unsure if he was embarrassed, or still feverish.

Just to be sure, he stepped close. "Let me check," he said. He reached out, placing a hand to his forehead. "...Good. You're feeling a lot better."

It was true, Kusuo's temperature was down quite a bit - but it still wasn't what Shun would consider normal. "You sure you're alright, though?"

Kusuo rolled his eyes playfully. "Yes, I'm fine. Don't worry about me, Shine." He offered Shun a smile. "I swear I'm fine."

Shun still wasn't sure, but seeing Kusuo smile like that comforted him nonetheless. If he was well enough to smile so genuinely, then he must have been feeling better.

"Well, let's go," Shun said.

"Go? Where?"

"Oh, well, we got the exit open," Shun said, pointing in the direction of the door.

"Oh!" Kusuo beamed. "Let's go, then!"

The pair walked together towards the exit. However, on their way up the stairs, still sat Kusuke.

However, now, he held something in his right hand. He was staring at it with a strange expression. Shun and Kusuo paused in front of him.

"What're you looking at?" Shun asked slowly.

Kusuke answered without even lifting his head, his voice distant and soft, "A photo. It's my little brother."

"Brother?" Kusuo asked, looking up at Kusuke with wide eyes. "You have a little brother?"

Kusuke nodded. He swallowed thickly. "Yeah. He was real adorable, too... Cute as a button..."

Kusuo tilted his head. "So... He was an inch tall, then?"

Kusuke finally lifted his head, shooting Kusuo a venomous glare. Kusuo shrank back at the look. "S-sorry," he mumbled. Then, he said, "An inch is a little large for a button. Maybe more like a half-inch?"

Shun bit his lip. Kusuke did not smile, or laugh, at Kusuo's jokes. Kusuo ducked his head. "Sorry..."

Shun sighed and looked back at Kusuke. "Why're you looking at it? The picture?"

Kusuke let out a sigh, and turned back to his picture. "You know, I was his Santa Claus."

Shun blinked. He looked to Kusuo, who was as bewildered as he was. Shun looked back up at Kusuke. "Um... What?"

"We... We didn't have parents," Kusuke said with a sigh. "They both died in an accident when we were young. So I had to be... Kind of like his dad, I guess." He smiled a sad, bitter smile. "And that meant I bought him Christmas presents every year. On Christmas eve night, I'd leave the present next to his pillow. Then the next morning he would run into my room with this big smile, waving around whatever 'Santa' had gotten him... He'd say, 'Look! Santa got me something! Look, it's that toy I wanted! He got my letter!'. Always so excited..." He gave a soft, bitter chuckle. "'Course, I was the one who had to tell him to write the letter. I'd tell him to write down what he wanted, and to mail it to Santa. The address I gave him is one in Northern Europe, in a place that doesn't exist. He'd write the letter, stamp it and send it out. A few days later, of course, it showed up back in our mailbox, marked 'Address Unknown'. I always opened the letters before he could figure out they got sent back. Once I knew what he wanted, I went around to a store - sometimes more than one, if he wanted more than one thing - and buy whatever he'd asked for with money I saved up over the year. Took a lot of saving, but I always made sure to buy at least one present every year."

Shun was silent. He couldn't think of anything to say in reply to that story. Kusuo, too, looked uncertain, staring down at the floor.

The wall next to them groaned, as though affected by Kusuke's story. Either he didn't hear the sound, though, or didn't care - Kusuke continued to speak. "One year, his letter was different. Not a list of toys, or even new clothes, or anything else like that. Instead, he'd written, 'I don't want a present this year. Instead, will you make my wish come true? My wish is that we'll be happy like this for a long, long time.' And that was it. Nothing else." Kusuke shifted, his eyes becoming glossed over. "But I... I couldn't do that. I couldn't make that wish come true." He barked out a bitter laugh. "Some Santa Claus I am, huh?"

Kusuke looked really, really sad. Sure, Shun hadn't known him that long, but... It was jarring to see, nonetheless. He didn't like this sight. So he decided not to ask any further questions.

Kusuo, however, didn't have that same thought process. "What... What happened?"

Kusuke pursed his lips. For a moment, Shun thought he might not answer.

But then...

"He died... He was killed, 9 years ago..."

Shun and Kusuo both bit their lips. Shun's heart felt like a big lump of lead, and he couldn't find anything to say. Kusuo looked away, his face pale.

Eventually, Kusuke stood up. "Let's go," he said, voice almost emotionless. He tucked away his picture, and turned back towards the door. He headed through.

Kusuo and Shun both looked at each other, silent.

Suddenly, Kusuke poked his head through, suddenly back to his old self. "You know, I would think that moving on from the room would be more sensible than standing there! Come on, get moving!" Then he disappeared back into the other room.

Kusuo looked to Shun. "Let's go," he said softly.

Shun nodded. And together, they went up the stairs.


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 25! I should throw a party for this momentous occasion :D

After walking for about 15 feet in the hallway that Kyoya, Kusuke, Kusuo and Shun had found themselves in, they found themselves in front of a metal door. It opened easily with a loud, creaking groan, and they passed through it as well. They came out into a new room.

"Is this, like, a warehouse or something?" Shun asked.

"Seems to be more of a storage room," Kyoya noted.

"Well, what are we supposed to do here?" Shun asked.

"Most likely the same thing we did in the other rooms," Kusuke responded. "Find the exit."

And with that, they began their attempt at solving the puzzle.

The first thing Shun did was take notice of the many sand bags that were all over the room. He approached one, which happened to be laying down near the door they'd come in, and pulled it open. Inside, as one may expect, was a bunch of sand, but there was something else... A sort of card? Shun reached in, and pulled it out...

"Ah... It's got a picture of Hikaru on it..."

He swallowed thickly, and everyone else looked uncomfortable at the mention of the corpse in the shower room. Though, to be honest, the only reason Shun knew this was Hikaru's picture and not Kaoru's was that whoever had taken the picture had taken special care to include the light blue hoodie in the shot.

Either way, the card was obviously a part of the puzzle, so Shun pocketed it.

He began searching the other sand bags, as well. Each one had a picture of a different member of the game. Kaoru, Kyoya, Shun, Kusuo, Kokomi, Riki, Kusuke, and even Number 9.

"Hey, Shun, come look at these boxes," Kyoya said, motioning for Shun to walk over.

On the ground, against the wall, sat a 3 by 3 set of locked boxes, each numbered 1 through 9. Each box had a slot on it. Shun pulled out the cards, and made a soft 'ah' noise. "Okay, this should be easy enough," he said with a soft chuckle.

Kyoya, however, gave him an odd look. "Are you... Going to be able to figure out what card goes to what box?" he asked.

Shun gave him a confused look. "Well, yeah. It's obvious." He picked out Kyoya's card, and showed it to the older man. "See? This is you. And you're number 1, so it goes in the 1 box." To demonstrate, Shun slipped the card into the slot on the 1 box. A small light next to the slot went from red to green. "See?"

"Um... Yes," Kyoya said slowly. "That... Makes sense."

Something seemed 'off' to Shun, though. Kyoya looked as though Shun were speaking another language, or had just attempted to explain the origin of the universe... Or both at once.

Before Shun could comment, though, he heard a noise. He turned, and saw Kusuo on the ground.

"Shit!" he shouted. He turned back to Kyoya, thrusting the cards into his hands. "You need to do this, okay? I need to make sure Kusuo's okay."

"W-wait-!"

Before Shun could hear Kyoya's complaints, he was already across the room. Kusuke had helped Kusuo to stand, and Kusuo was now upright. "I'm okay, Shine," Kusuo said with a soft smile. "I just tripped. I promise."

"Bullshit," Shun said. "C'mere, let me feel your forehead."

Shun placed a gentle hand to Kusuo's forehead. He didn't feel any warmer than the last time he'd checked, but he didn't feel any cooler, either.

"If it helps," Kusuke spoke, "I saw him fall. I think he really did just trip on, like, a sand bag, or one of these boxes, or something."

Shun might have been more inclined to believe that Kusuo was fine if he hadn't needed help standing up. He gave a sigh... "We really need to get out of here so we can get you to a hospital," he mumbled.

"Oh, I'm sure it's not that serious," Kusuo said quickly, giving a soft laugh. "I'm sure I just need some medicine and a little sleep."

"Medicine, huh?" Kusuke said softly. "Well, if that's all you need, I bet Kyoya could swing that easily."

"Hm? Kyoya?" Shun repeated, looking at Kusuke in confusion. "Why Kyoya?"

"Oh, he didn't tell you?" Kusuke said, raising an eyebrow. "He's the owner of this big pharmaceuticals company. Inherited it from his dad, he said. I think he called it... Cradle Pharmaceuticals? Or something like that?"

"Cradle Pharmaceuticals?" Shun repeated.

"Yeah. Apparently it's really flourished since he took it over. Their flagship product is something called Soporil Beta."

Shun blinked. He thought back - hadn't that been the label on the vial on that anesthetic? The one Kyoya had used on himself? Well, that explained how he'd known it was safe...

Kusuke continued, "Apparently, it sold really well for use with different governments' military forces. It was an effective and humane, ah, crowd-clearer, shall we say?" He shrugged. "Tons of governments bought it for use for that purpose, so Cradle Pharmaceuticals went way up. And so did its stock, of course."

Shun and Kusuo were silent for a moment. Then, Shun asked, "How do you know all this?"

"Kyoya told me," Kusuke said with a simple shrug. "We went into door 4 together, remember? While we were searching the room there we got to talking, and it just kinda came up naturally."

Something about that seemed off to Shun, but he shrugged it off. "Okay, yeah... That makes sense," he mumbled. He turned his head slightly, going to look in the direction of the person they were talking about.

Kyoya was just... Sitting there, staring blankly at the cards Shun had given him. Shun frowned at the sight. He turned back to Kusuo. "Anyway, are you sure you're alright?"

Kusuo nodded. "Yes, Shine. I'm fine. I promise."

"Okay..."

Shun sighed, and turned to walk back over to Kyoya. "Hey, what are you doing?" he asked. "Why aren't you putting the cards into the slots?"

"I... Um..." Kyoya hesitated, turning to show the cards to Shun. "I'm sorry, but... I can't seem to figure this out."

Shun blinked. "But it's obvious," he said slowly. "I told you, right? Match the faces to the numbers."

Kyoya looked away, frowning. "I... My eyesight is quite bad, I'm afraid. My glasses are very old, and I don't have time to get the prescription changed very often, so..." He gave an awkward cough.

This didn't make sense to Shun.

"Could you please do it, Shun? I'm... I'm tired, anyway. I think I need to rest. Is that alright?"

Shun blinked. After a minute, he gave a slow nod. "Y-yeah. Yeah, sure. Go ahead and... Rest."

Slowly, Shun took the cards from Kyoya. He watched as Kyoya lifted himself to his feet, and then went to sit down on some metal stairs on the other side of the room.

_'How did looking at just looking at cards tire him out?'_ Shun wondered. He looked down at the cards, curious. Was Kyoya's eyesight truly so bad that he couldn't see such clear pictures...?

And then he remembered what Kokomi had told him.

_Prosopagnosia._

His eyes went over to Kyoya, just for a moment. Could the man have such a disability, perhaps? He looked exhausted and depressed... Having prosopagnosia would likely do that, especially after all that Shun had said about the puzzle being obvious to solve.

Shun pursed his lips, and looked down. He considered going over to apologize, but that would only draw attention to it. If he did have prosopagnosia, he clearly didn't want anyone to know - considering he'd blamed his inability to solve the puzzle on poor eyesight. And if he didn't have it, Shun would look like an idiot.

So he simply knelt down and solved this part of the puzzle quietly. When he had stuck each card into the appropriate slot, all 9 of the boxes popped open at once.

Shun reached into each box, but all that was in each one was a pin. They were barely thicker than sewing needles, and about the same length. Each pin was labelled with a number at the end.

"Hm?" Kusuke's voice came from closer than Shun expected, and he whipped around in shock. Kusuke continued speaking, undeterred, "What do you think those are for?"

"I don't know," Shun said, once his heart calmed down.

"Well..." Kusuke hummed, and glanced over to the stairs Kyoya was sitting on. Then he looked up to the sort of balcony-like area that the stairs led up to. "Maybe we should head up there? Couldn't hurt, right?"

Shun shrugged. "Yeah, couldn't hurt."

So he and Kusuke headed over, carefully walking around Kyoya as they went up the stairs. Halfway up the stairs was a door against the wall. Just to see, Shun attempted to open it, but it was locked. Of course. He sighed, and followed Kusuke up the stairs.

Against the railing of the balcony, there was a sort of... Machine. It had a green button, a red button, a joystick and a screen on the top part. And on the bottom part, there were 9 buttons with numbers 1 through 9 on them. The number 9 button was lit up, but all the others weren't. And below that were 6 holes.

"Hm," Shun said softly, looking at the holes in confusion. He looked down at the 9 pins he held, then looked to Kusuke in bewilderment, who also shrugged.

"Okay, let me try this..."

Shun stuck in pins 1, 2, and 9 on the top row of holes, and pins 4, 5, and 6 on the bottom row. Then he gave each pin a turn. When he did, the 3 button and the 6 button both lit up.

"Ah!" Shun blinked. "They lit up!"

"Maybe it's the digital roots?" Kusuke suggested. "I bet if you get all of the buttons to light up, something'll happen!"

Shun considered that. Well, he had nothing else to go on... He took a deep breath, pulled out the pins, and started calculating.


End file.
